


A Reason To Believe

by myglassesaredirty



Series: Three Sentence Fics [4]
Category: Left Behind - Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye, Left Behind: the Kids
Genre: 3 Sentence Fiction, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Beaches, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Board Games, Brotherly Love, Brownies, Buying a HOUSE, Character Death, Child Death, Children, Children of Characters, College, Cooking, Dating, Day At The Beach, Death in Childbirth, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Dogs, Driving, Drowning, F/M, Falling In Love, Father Figures, Ficlet Collection, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Godfather - Freeform, Grief/Mourning, Heaven, High School, Hope, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Music, Jealousy, Journey, Laughter, Learning to Drive, Lent, Love, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, Miscarriage, Netflix and Chill, Not Canon Compliant, Pacts, Pneumonia, Prison, Psalm 23, Rain, Reading, Regret, Shopping, Shopping Malls, Sick Character, Sickfic, Single Parents, Snacks & Snack Food, Snow, Snow Day, Snowball Fight, Sports, Stargazing, Studying, Surgery, Triplets, True Love, Unrequited Love, Wakes & Funerals, Weddings, Whump, single dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:02:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 46
Words: 20,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22913659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myglassesaredirty/pseuds/myglassesaredirty
Summary: Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.These stories are miracles.Some are snippets of another life, perhaps, of a life of ease and comfort and peace. Others are snippets of a better life, where these people are finally at rest. Still others, in this Lenten season, are the depiction of a miracle of faith, of pain and hurting and suffering, but still, the miracle remains.
Relationships: Bruce Barnes & Judd Thompson Jr., Judd Thompson Jr. & Ryan Daley, Judd Thompson Jr. & Vicki Byrne, Judd Thompson Jr./Vicki Byrne, Lionel Washington & Judd Thompson Jr., Ryan Daley & Lionel Washington, Vicki Byrne & Original Child Characters
Series: Three Sentence Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/914337
Comments: 90
Kudos: 5





	1. Stolen Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, all! I'm back again, as usual, with Left Behind and a new series of three sentence fics. This one is going to be posted throughout the entirety of the Lenten season – so one three sentence fic a day for the next 40 days. Depending on how much I like this challenge of mine, I'll continue with this in following years, though it may vary bit to bit as the years go by. Originally, I had wanted to use a different C.S. Lewis quote, but the one I was planning on using would require me to have all 40 of my prompts planned, so…I'm going to wait a bit on that one.
> 
> All of these chapters will have a title to go with them, as well as their specific prompt. The summary of each subsequent chapter will also be a C.S. Lewis quote because I love the man. I would dedicate this series to him were he still alive.
> 
> This first one was requested by HowlingDawn with the prompt of "Jicki + stargazing"

They used to live in Chicago.

Chicago was a city of bright lights, of pollution and cars and movie theaters and strip clubs, and as soon as everything happened after the disappearances, a lot of things seemed less important than they had before, and even if Judd thought these things were unimportant now, they didn't exist any longer because of an earthquake that shattered the entire world, that had sent him through a raging river, reaching for her hand, and they were tired, tired, always so tired, and then he was in the Middle East, thousands of miles away from her, hoping that he could reach out and hold her hand, but they had nothing together, not while he was away in the Middle East – not that neither of them wanted a life together, but because they were so far apart and the threat of death was so imminent; now he was back, now they were in the middle of the Wisconsin forest, hidden by trees with blinking fireflies, and she snuggled close to him, kicking up the blanket with her feet, and pointed to one of the constellations in the sky.

Sometimes, he wished he could tell her what all these constellations were and give her the story behind them, but as he lolled his head to look more clearly at her, he saw her smile that was brighter than the stars themselves, and he thought that, maybe, he could tell her a story about a Greek soldier who fell so deeply in love that he would traverse mountains to find his love – but Vicki would see right through that and prop herself up on her elbow and tell him to give it to her straight, to ask her to marry him, and he would kiss her and say that nothing would make him happier.


	2. Snowlit Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children – and the dogs? They know what snow's made for."_
> 
> Another request from HowlingDawn: "Ryan + snow"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all. It is a wonderful day in this here college town. We have sunshine, warm weather, no clouds. Except I have class. Ah, well, I get to eat good food later tonight. I don't know. I'm procrastinating the writing of this three sentence fic.

When Ryan woke up that December morning so he could take Phoenix out for the morning, he didn't think to put on any shoes and was promptly surprised when cold snow crunched underfoot.

He smiled to himself, called Phoenix back, and ran inside, calling for Judd and Lionel to come outside, and when they stepped outside to see what was going on, they were greeted by snowballs to the face; Lionel glared and Judd bent over and threw a snowball at Ryan and they kept it up while Lionel grudgingly sat out as the referee – after the snowball fight, Judd and Lionel headed back inside to make hot chocolate, and Ryan collapsed onto the ground and stared up at the blue sky, and even though his heart soared with the sight of the snow, he couldn't help but wonder how much better this would be if Vicki were around to share it with them.

He grabbed a fistful of snow and tossed it at the nearest tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


	3. The Kids of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air.  
>  \- Ralph Waldo Emerson_
> 
> Another request from HowlingDawn: "Vicki and the smols"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's another day in poli sci, which means that God is testing me. I have a week until the midterm. I have yet to study. I barely pay attention. I don't think you understand – I'm literally writing/updating this in the middle of class. And we have a midterm. But I'll be fine, he has study guides up, and I can google the answers over the weekend. And I record some of the lectures. I'll be fine.
> 
> Ngl, I'm actually really excited for this one because I'm planning on expanding this one into a larger fic later, when I have more time and when I've actually hit summertime. I live in the middle of the desert (literally), but I do!!! Get to go to a beach later this summer!!!! Granted, I'm taking summer school, but that's not the point, the point is that I get to go to the beach and get a tan

Vicki scooped out a handful of sand and stuck it onto the sandcastle Sadie had been trying to build for the past thirty minutes – Sadie was only about two, and her fingers were small and chubby, and besides, Sadie was more interested in trying to eat the sand (while Vicki was trying to keep the sand out of her mouth) than trying to build a sandcastle; Sadie grabbed a fistful of sand, in imitation of her mother, but instead of adding it to the sandcastle, she tried to put it in her mouth before her mom could stop her, and this action knocked her hat from her head.

Lucas groaned and stretched out on the sand next to his mother and little sister – he was still mad that Seth got to learn how to surf with Judd and he tried to tell Judd and Vicki that he was not "too young," he was four whole years old and he could learn to surf; Vicki was just glad that Lionel and Ryan weren't here, because both of them would say that no one can die anymore, it was not like they had to worry about that, but old parental instincts die hard – she bit her bottom lip and told Lucas to go looking for starfish or seashells or nice little rocks to add to Sadie's sandcastle, and Lucas grinned brightly, popped up, kissed Sadie's cheek, and ran up and down the beach.

Vicki set Sadie down and started digging through the picnic basket, one hand slipping down to her stomach; it had been getting more difficult to sit Sadie in her lap, and a small smile crossed Vicki's face when she felt Judd's eyes on her – before she could look up, she heard a squeal of laughter, and she looked up to see Judd surfacing after a wave had knocked him down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, kudos, or prompts? I'm pleased with any of the above.


	4. Almost Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Find strength in each day knowing heaven is cheering you on."_
> 
> _"Brother, it won't be long. Soon all your burdens will be gone."_
> 
> _"No more walking, we're running as fast as we can."_
> 
> _\- Almost Home by MercyMe_
> 
> Another request from HowlingDawn! Judd + remembering the twins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *rubs hands together* I've been so excited for this one since I started this series. Mostly because I'm obsessed with the song this is based on and am more than certainly basing a chapter or entire rewritten book on it, but also because the premise is so angsty I love it.

Judd's life began when he ran away, though it was also one of the worst days of his life – he had told himself that seven years was a long time to go without seeing his little siblings, but instead of being caught and sentenced to prison, he was facing the worst seven years in the history of mankind, and he had to do it all alone, and that thought terrified him more than everything else that came with it, even with the plagues and famine and war and losing everyone else he let into his life; some days, he found himself dragging his feet, wishing that he could collapse and that God would finally take mercy on him and wrap him into a hug that would finally bring him back home, but a part of him knew that his little siblings were in heaven, and they were watching him, leaning forward eagerly with God standing behind them, and he knew they were cheering him on, he knew they were watching his every step, and that thought was enough to get him off his feet, to lift his chin, and to keep pushing himself forward.

He lost more people than he cared to admit – he lost friends and brothers and sisters and father figures (because, yes, Judd still had the record for the most amount of father figures in the entire Underground, and he used to be proud of that statistic, though he hated it because that meant that he lost more than the rest of them) – but that wasn't always what broke him down; what broke him down, every single day, was the knowledge that he was leading a group of kids scattered all across the world, and they were looking to him for leadership, even though he was no good as a leader, even though Lionel was clearly the better option to lead, but he had to do it, because people had chosen him and they kept looking to him, and he had to make decisions that maybe would turn out well or maybe not, and he had to live with the decisions that didn't work out so well, and that shut him down, and he found himself crippled under the weight of the world, begging someone to please just take this burden from him – Vicki would offer, and she would cradle his head in her lap and whisper words of encouragement to him, but as soon as he felt her try and take the burden from him, he shut down because he didn't want to burden her, he wanted her to have the best life possible, and it wasn't possible if she were trying to shoulder his burden – Lionel tried because Lionel was the leader, but Judd needed to prove himself capable, he needed to prove that people hadn't made a bad decision, and he wanted Lionel to be fresh for the moment that others tried to lead – Mark tried to shoulder his burden, because Mark knew what that kind of burden felt like, he knew it more than anyone else in the Underground did, but just as Mark knew how Judd's burden felt on his shoulders, Judd knew that anything else would cripple Mark; so Judd kept the burden on his own shoulders and begged God to let him live or to take him, he couldn't care less which one God would choose, and in that moment, he knew his siblings were watching him, all the way in heaven, and he would shift his burden and stand on shaky legs and he would lead his people.

Judd couldn't find his little siblings when the world settled down – Vicki stood by his side and introduced him to her family, and Judd was scared of her father because, like, hello, he and Vicki were married and pregnant, there were situations to be dealt with, but Mr. Byrne just wrapped Judd in a bone-crushing hug, but over his shoulder, Judd saw two young people standing close to each other at a tree so far away, and they were really just blurs, but Judd knew who they were, and he stepped away from Mr. Byrne, walking slowly towards them; the blurs stood up straighter, and Judd was running, running as fast as he knew how, and he came upon his siblings and pulled both of them into the tightest hug he could manage, and they wrapped their arms around his neck and around his back and he wanted to apologize for not being a good brother, because he hadn't been, but the word couldn't even cross his lips because all he could say was "thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt? Comment? Kudo? Oh, please, I love them all


	5. The Cards All Fold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He purposefully chooses to forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Au time!! (Or is it??? *cue waggly eyebrows)
> 
> The setting is that Bruce and Judd had been traveling the world. Judd is poisoned and later dies in the hospital. This fic explores the aftermath of Bruce's emotions

After Judd died, Bruce moved away from the city of Chicago, away from the kids he had once thought of as his own, away from the city that he had grown up a part of, away from the life that had been thrust on him; he wanted Vicki to come with him, because she was his daughter and he wasn't going to leave his daughter behind, no matter how much her loss could cripple him – though maybe "want" wasn't the right word, maybe "needed" or "begged" was better, because then he wouldn't feel like he had failed her and Lionel and Ryan and Mark and John and Judd.

Except Vicki refused, she shook his hand off her arm and screamed at him that he was taking the coward's way out, that Judd would never have done _this,_ never would have run away – to which Bruce tried to remind her that Judd _did_ run away, he had run away when the disappearances began – but Bruce should have known the love Vicki had for Judd and for the rest of the Underground ran deeper than any love she had for him; she and Judd were a team, way back when, back when Judd was alive, and where one fell short, the other would pick up the slack, and they powered through, but now that Judd was dead, Vicki was the heiress apparent to lead the Underground, and she would never dream of letting Judd down.

So Bruce packed his bags and kissed Vicki's forehead while she was asleep and he left the bustling city of Chicago, left the life he had lived for so many years behind, and he moved into the woods, and he cocooned himself away from his loved ones; that poison was meant for him, after all, but Judd was so insistent on eating more food because he was a growing young man, and Bruce just wanted to let him have it – only, the problem was, Bruce forgot; he forgot everything: he forgot about the young man who reminded him so much of himself, who was the next leader of a great people, he forgot about his redheaded daughter who loved so deeply that it transformed her, he forgot about the quiet leader of the Underground and the one who stuck by his side, he forgot about the commander and the brains, and he forgot all about the pain because the pain hurt; if you were to ask him what his name was, and why he was in the woods, and who he used to love, Bruce would look up, covered in dirt and grime, and he would tell you simply, "I don't know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More prompts? More comments? More kudos? Honestly, I'd die for you for any of them


	6. The Gift of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dog loses his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that Tangled scene, where it's like "who's that?" "they don't like me" "who's That?" "they don't like me either" "who's THAT" "let's just assume everyone here doesn't like me"
> 
> Let's just apply that to this series. If you think it's an au, just assume that it is.
> 
> I pulled this prompt from the one I got for my Marvel 3 sentence fic series and I was able to make it work. I mean, angst. And a dog. Therefore, this is gonna be the most painful one.

Phoenix missed Ryan.

He had tried to warn Ryan about the earthquake, barking even though he knew he wasn't allowed to, but he knew there was something bad coming, and he wanted to protect Ryan; Ryan had thought he just needed to go outside, and he threw Phoenix outside, but when Phoenix turned around, Ryan hadn't followed him outside – it was the house crumbling down on top of him, Phoenix saw Ryan scream and brace himself against the ceiling coming down, and when the earth stopped shaking, he moved closer and sniffed, tucking his tail between his legs when he could no longer smell life coming from Ryan's fingertips.

Phoenix sat on his haunches, and he howled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos/comments/prompts are appreciated!


	7. Sound the Bugle Now (Play it Just for Him)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd watches Ryan die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's three sentence fic: angst! Angst!!!!! So much angst!!!!!!!
> 
> I can't wait until midterms are done because then I get to write for fun for longer than fifteen minutes at a time, oh how we fucking hate midterms, I'll gladly rant about it if anyone wants to know, and I can also give you a rundown of how I can't choose who's the worse prof between my English and poli sci prof. Anyways. AU, not an AU, really, it's up to you to decide. No one will know for sure if this is canon until the end of the series :)))))

They had spent the majority of the day, the past two days really, chasing down Ryan's trail and trying to find him, using Phoenix and crazy old cat ladies who clearly were off their rockers and traffic cameras and a guy who had just left the militia and a reporter who barely knew them trying to also find Ryan, and Judd had finally resolved that they were doing nothing by sitting on their butts, so he told everyone to load up in the suburban – it did have the most seats after all, and they could bring Phoenix that way – and keep their eyes peeled for any sign of Ryan while Tom looked for him from the police end.

Judd really had no idea that Ryan had been kidnapped until they pulled up next to Lake Michigan, just to reevaluate what they were going to do, which direction they were going to take, but two burly-looking men jumped out of the white van parked in front of them, opened the back doors, and pulled out one Ryan Daley, whose mouth was gagged, whose hands were tied to his feet, and whose pockets bulged with what Judd and Mark could only assume were rocks; the men threw him into the lake, and Judd didn't even think, he unbuckled his seatbelt and flew out of the car as fast as he could, plunging into the middle of the lake, only realizing that Mark had followed him when Mark swam underneath him.

Except both of them forgot that Lake Michigan was dirtier than any pool that they had ever swum in, and they circled the general direction where Ryan had sunk before coming up for air – Vicki and Lionel hung out the side of the suburban, John holding onto the backs of the shirt and screaming for Mark, who had gone back under to find Ryan; Mark broke the surface, holding Ryan to his chest, and he kicked his way back to the shore while Judd moved next to him, pressing two fingers to the pulse point on Ryan's neck, but he had to bite his lip, had to blink the water away from his eyes, and he shook his head and choked past the lake, "He's gone, Mark."


	8. Don't Lose Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone tries to think back to where they went wrong.

As Mark shivered in the corner of his own private little prison cell, hands lifted as close to his chapped lips as the shackles would allow, he thought of Vicki: he thought about her smile, her laugh, the way she twisted her lips and scrunched her nose when he or Judd was explaining something to her that she didn't understand but she didn't want to ask for clarification, the way she pressed her lips together in a thin line and furrowed her brow when she was reading something new that she didn't understand, the way she would snuggle into the car seat she was sitting in and yawn adorably before lolling her head and falling asleep, the way her eyes lit up whenever she saw or spoke to Judd, the way she always sought out Judd, and it was in that jail cell that Mark faced the reality that Vicki would never see him, not the way she saw Judd – sure, she would always see Mark as a brother, as a friend closer than a brother, much like Lionel was to her, but he couldn't be something more, he couldn't be what Judd was to her.

He used to never have trouble with girls, used to be able to say a few lines and get the girl he had his eyes on, but even from the day he met Vicki for the first time, he knew she wasn't the type of girl who wanted all the right lines or all the right moves, she wanted someone she could go toe-to-toe with, who was just as stubborn as she was, who could lead just as well as she could, and Mark sat in that prison cell, shivering and wet and cold, and he knew that he matched up with Judd every step of the way, except Judd didn't join the militia and Judd got to go to Israel, but aside from _that,_ Mark honestly couldn't determine where he fell short and where Judd succeeded – Judd got the girl, in the end, and Mark was here, left in the cold, shivering in the darkness, chains biting into his wrists, and he was alone and awaiting his own death.

A breath shuddered past his lips, and Mark dipped his head, whispering, "I'm so sorry, Vick, I'm so, so sorry."


	9. Brother, Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two friends regret not meeting sooner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aiming less for the angsty feel and more for like……idk??? Like that weird in-between of angst and not angst. There's not really fluff in this. They're about to die. Life just be like that sometimes

Ryan lifted his hands to his mouth and coughed into them, ignoring the way Lionel glared at him; he stared out at the expanse of the woods, where there were still trees, where they still had cover, but where they were sitting ducks if the GC came to find them, and they were alone, separated from the entire rest of the Underground, with no map and no place to call home, and Ryan wanted to laugh sometimes because that was all life had been for the past three years, hadn't it – all this running, all this hiding, and there was never a place to call home, all this pain and loss and death and sometimes Ryan wished he could have met any of his friends without the most cataclysmic event in the history of mankind until the earthquake, until World War III, until a tsunami that was so bad that it destroyed every city 100 miles inland on every continent, until, until, until.

Lionel stretched and wiped his palms on his jeans before he said, "Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we had met sooner?"

Ryan chewed on his bottom lip and squinted into the night sky; "I think life might have been a lot easier sometimes, Lionel."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLEASE leave prompts I will love you forever if you do. Comments and kudos are always appreciated as well.


	10. Honey, I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I love you; you love her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this was requested by RobinsonsWereHere (it's been a hot minute since I was on tumblr and saw those requests). Anyways, this is an in between me studying for my poli sci midterm. It's my last one, it's multiple choice, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be fine. And then!!! Spring break!!!! I get to finally sleep and write and read and watch tv!!!!!
> 
> Also I will gladly rant about last night and my roommate gOING TO BED AT TWO IN THE MORNING WHILE I HAD TO GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP FOR MY MIDTERM

Nada had never really loved anyone the way she loved Judd Thompson; he was a good man, a strong leader, funny and so, so brilliant, speaking Hebrew as easily as she could (and it was her native language) while picking up on more languages from the other international fugitives in the safe house, and the more he was in Israel – he and Lionel referred to it as "stranded" – the more she fell in love with him, the more she wanted to spend time with him, the more she laughed at his and Lionel's hijinks, and she would bring him coffee or tea late at night because he had stayed up late talking to his friends back in the States, or he was learning – teaching himself upper-level calculus or a new language or studying medicine or learning from old theologians, long dead – or he was merely just sitting up after a bad nightmare, and she would hand him a mug of coffee, and he would smile softly at her, and he would take it from her, and they would talk for a few minutes, maybe half an hour, before he passed back the mug, got up, and turned in for the night.

But she saw Vicki Byrne on the computer screen once, saw the way Judd joked around with her, the way Judd knew what she was thinking before she could say it – and probably before Vicki herself knew what she was thinking – and Nada saw the way that Judd knew what Vicki loved, and he would contribute, as best he could halfway across the world, to Vicki's interests, would hold Bible studies with her, would ask her to sing to him, would tell her in the most rapid voice that he had learned a new dance and he couldn't wait to show her; Nada saw the ease with which Judd spoke to Vicki, and she saw the way they looked at each other, halfway across the world, she saw the way Lionel had to remind Judd that he wanted to talk to Vicki too and they would get married soon enough, and she saw what they meant when Judd and Vicki said, "I love you," at the end of their facetime calls – it wasn't the same "I love you" that Lionel and Vicki shared, not the same "I love you" between Judd and the others, it was the type of love that could withstand the separation of thousands of miles, the type of love that would keep Judd pressing on until he could collapse into her arms, the very type of love that Nada had for him.

One day, after one of these calls, after Judd declared that they were _finally_ going home, that everything had _finally_ turned out how they needed it to turn out, Nada pulled him aside, licked her lips, and glanced at the redhead girl on the screen who was now talking to Lionel before she said, "Judd, I love you; you love her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways: prompts? Kudos? Comments? I love you


	11. love is not a victory march (it's a cold and broken hallelujah)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning what love is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another request from RobinsonsWereHere!! Jicki themed because I am legally obligated to, but also I'm listening to the adapted podcasts and I got to the part where Judd and Nada are dating and I am vibrating with anger @ Jerry B. Jenkins why the fuck
> 
> Anyways, I'm finally on break!!! I get to write more!!! I get to actually read stuff that I want to read!!!! I get to fucking SLEEP!!!! I also get to go to church again!!!! I get my dog and my dog nephew!!!! Things are mostly good except for the Judd/Nada storyline

The first day they met each other, it was quite possibly the worst day of their short lives – losing their family destroyed them, destroyed their souls, took their hearts and ripped it to shreds, and Vicki was frustrated with Judd, not because of his looks or his social status, but because he had shut down because of the pain and he didn't ask about her or her family, and she was too young, too naive, maybe, to realize that he was in just as much pain as she was, and she couldn't see it, much like he couldn't see her pain; but he asked, at the end of the day, with a voice hoarse from crying, from an internal screaming match with God, from someone could barely hold their head up, and she couldn't be mad at him, not when it was unfair to be, so she put her hand on his shoulder and accepted his offer of help.

After the first time they were separated, through what started as a "protective kidnapping" and led into Judd being captured by the Global Community, Judd was there to protect her, he was there to hide with her under the desk in the church basement, with her back pressed to his chest and his arm wrapped around her waist, and they were by each other's sides for hours, and he lost her to a riverbank, screaming for her, swept away with the river, and he thought it might have been worth it for the GC to just capture him and shoot him dead, maybe that way they could finally be at peace, but he got to safety, found Mark, and got Lionel and Conrad to sneak her out; but she was mad at him, at the end of it all, as they stood outside, arguing at a gas station, and he knew that he still loved her, she knew that she still loved him, but this was _too much,_ and he said, "I want to protect you, but I don't know how" and that was it – he didn't claim to be right, he didn't excuse his behavior, he asked her to forgive him and tell him how to best protect her, and she stepped into his arms and buried her face in his chest and cried because she was so tired, she was so tired, but now that she knew, now that she knew he wasn't shooting her down because he wanted to take the lead, now that she knew he just wanted to protect her like she wanted to protect him, she felt like she could breathe again.

"You're not going to fight in fucking _Armageddon_ ," he laughed one night, many years later, as he ran a hand through his hair, and she wanted to fight him, she wanted to say that he was throwing himself into danger, but he shook his head before she could, and he said, "I'm not losing you, I'm not losing our baby, and I just– we've come so far, we've fought for so long, and this is the first time we have _hope,_ and I'm not losing that baby to Carpathia," but in the end, she went with him, and the tunnel collapsed on her, and all she could think was _My baby, my baby, is my baby okay_ and even as Judd dug her out of the rubble, he didn't even consider telling her, "I told you so," he just got her out from under the rocks and pulled her into his arms, pressing kisses to her hair, and he whispered about the baby, and all she could do was hold onto him and say, "I love you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, prompts, kudos, and comments are appreciated!


	12. The Golden Age of Something Good and Right and Real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first peaceful day in a long time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, this is late, but goodness, spring break is throwing me for a loop. I have to schedule all my writing around what my family is doing, and don't get me wrong, I love my fam, but like, seriously. My writing schedule is shot. Anyways this is going up

After seven years, this was it – this was the day that they saw sunlight shine as brightly as it could, this was the day that the sky was blue and birds chirped around them, this was the day when everyone they had lost in the past seven and a half years walked among them, this was the day where all that was dead came to life – including, but not limited to, Judd's hope.

He wrapped one arm around his wife's shoulder, and she smiled and leaned into his side, one hand slipping to her stomach, and Judd really felt like he could breathe again, he felt like the burden weighing upon his shoulders had been pushed aside, and the gunshot wounds and poorly healed ribs and scars…all of that was gone; he felt new, he felt young, he felt free, and Judd could have fallen to his knees in pure thanks.

Judd spun Vicki around to face him, ignoring how Lionel and Ryan jokingly gagged in the background on how they were "so sickeningly adorable," instead studying his wife's eyes – he slipped his left hand down to cover her own, over her stomach, and he smiled at her, tears pricking his eyes, but for the first time in _seven years,_ these tears were happy and he pressed one kiss to her forehead before he said, "We're a family now, Vick."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot accurately say how much I would appreciate comments, kudos, or prompts


	13. This Woman is My Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The way she looks when she laughs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yet another request from RobinsonsWereHere!! Thanks for all the requests, Julie, I just might have enough three sentence fic ideas to get me through Lent
> 
> More Jicki because, like, Jicki is my all-time favorite ship. It beats B&B. It beats Hawklips. It beats Peraltiago. Hell, it beats _Madry_. That's how much I love this ship. The only ship in the entire world that I ship that could maybe stand up against Jicki is Bert/Mary Poppins, but I don't write fic for Bert and Mary because why ruin perfection
> 
> Anyhoosies, here you all are. This one will be structured a little differently, so the words in bold are _not_ part of the actual fic and sentence count. I want to clarify that.

**i. May 13 – the making of a newspaper**

The six of them gathered in Judd's living room, each with their own personal computer while Phoenix nosed at Ryan's hand – Lionel and Ryan sat on the ground, their backs pressed to the couch and armchair, John took the open armchair, and Vicki sat between Judd and Mark, though she leaned more closely to Judd; they all worked for hours, until their eyes burned, until the boys' stomachs rumbled so loudly that Vicki asked if there was an earthquake, until all of them began to fidget, and that was when John shook his head, grabbed his phone, and pulled up his Queen playlist because "they needed a quick break if they were going to be productive," and none of the rest of them really had the grounds to argue it; when Crazy Little Thing Called Love came on, Judd leapt out of his spot, grabbed Vicki's hand, and twirled her around the free space in the living room; she scrunched her nose, tried to hide her laugh, but her smile betrayed her, and her eyes crinkled and then she was laughing, laughing, as one only could in the midst of a really stressful or a really freeing situation, and her tongue poked out between her teeth, and Judd spun her towards Mark.

**ii. May 15 – movie night**

Navigating pizza planning, popcorn making, sodas and root beer floats, candy, ice cream, and any other unhealthy food – all for the sake of "movie night," according to Ryan's lifestyle – was a lot more difficult to manage than it used to be when Judd just had to entertain Philip and Piper because Philip and Piper would _occasionally_ be down for fast food or milkshakes or root beer floats, but Ryan and Lionel and even Vicki wanted to clean out his fridge less than two months into the Tribulation, but he wasn't really one to say no, especially where Vicki was concerned; even Mark and John had joined them tonight, and they were in mostly the same positions as before, except it was just Judd and Vicki sharing the couch this time, and Ryan ran into the living room with one of Judd's old DVDs (and Judd blanched at the idea of having to re-learn how to work the DVD player) with _Back to the Future_ labeled in plain lettering across the front, and Judd set aside the snacks, inserted the DVD, and sat back with Vicki sorta-not-sorta leaning into his side, but the DVD menu came up, and all that played on the menu was _The Princess Bride_ and as Ryan groaned and muttered about how unfair life was, Vicki propelled herself forward, clapping her hands twice, and absolutely cackled.

**iii. One year later – a bit of an "I miss you"**

When she had asked him what reason he would have to miss her while he was over in Israel – because really, what reason did he have to miss her, it wasn't like he would miss Lionel or Ryan, and besides, she didn't want him to know that she was going to miss him – he blushed bright red and ducked his head, kicking at the dirt, and he said, "I, uh, I've– I'm…used to your face," and she knew that he was just embarrassed and there was a talk that needed to be had, but maybe it was just her own nerves, but her face lit up and she doubled over in laughter, resting her forehead against Judd's shoulder, and she could hear him rolling his eyes as he said, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up at my expense."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just need _seven more prompts_ and then I'm perfect to go for the rest of Lent! But you don't have to leave prompts. But you can. And kudos and comments, if you wish.


	14. You Made a Promise (and a Promise is Unbreakable)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd and Vicki made a pact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is definitely, 100%, unquestionably an au. Judd and Vicki knew each other growing up, into junior high and high school, and well…you'll know the rest of it. Requested by RobinsonsWereHere
> 
> Tomorrow's three sentence fic will either be up really early or really late. Idk yet. I'm playing it by ear.

They were in their early college years when they first made the pact – well, really, Judd was a junior, he could drink legally, and Vicki was still stuck in Northwestern's dorm rooms, where she was subject to the flu and strep and the coronavirus, should the spread ever get _that_ bad, but Judd was pre-med, and she had no idea if he legitimately thought that most of the students would be fine if the coronavirus came around, or if he really was tired of working all the time, but really, she found that it didn't matter; anyways, it was at a party-not-party hosted by John and Mark where Judd and Vicki stood off to the side, both of them sipping at their drinks, when Judd said, "You know, Vick, we might never get married," and she had to bite her tongue against a retort of _oh no shit, Sherlock, have you heard about what's going on in the news_ and instead she just pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows, and Judd knew her well enough to say, "Um…well, I guess- I guess what I'm trying to say is…if we're- if neither of us are married by the time we're thirty, how about it?"

Vicki had rolled her eyes and agreed to it, with a shake of the hand, and Judd brushed an eyelash off her cheek, and both of them really tried to forget about it – later, Judd dated Nada and another girl named Nina Ben-Judah, but neither relationship lasted very long, though Vicki would hesitate to admit that she was glad everytime Judd would text her with the whole _she and I broke up_ message, but she was never so low a person as to legitimately celebrate; Judd wasn't the only one who tried to forget about their pact that more or less hung over their heads – Vicki dated Mark for a year and a half, and it was serious, very serious, they slept together, and Mark told her he loved her, and it was only when Mark started talking about marriage that Vicki spooked and broke up with him, and it took her another three years before she could go out with anyone else, and even when she finally got together, it wasn't Judd, it was Chad, and Chad was nice and sweet and really, really hot, but at the end of the day, he wasn't Judd, and she broke it off with him.

Judd found her once he finished residency, when she was 28 and he was 30, and he slid into the barstool next to her and smirked before he said, "Well, Vick, I gotta say, I'm thirty now and still unmarried," and she rolled her eyes again and said, "Well, a bet is a bet," and they started going out, and it felt so right, it felt like they were best friends and something much deeper, and when he proposed on her thirtieth birthday, he smirked again and reminded her of their bet with the telltale phrase of, "We're both in our thirties now, and well…a promise is unbreakable, right?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four more prompts, and we're golden!!! We're almost there, folks!
> 
> Anywhoosies, that being said, comments and kudos are always appreciated.


	15. Heaven Help a Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College au, feat. Ryan Daley, because this boy does not get enough appreciation and I can project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requested by RobinsonsWereHere! I mostly chose Ryan because he's the youngest and the easiest to project onto, because this boi is so dumb, he would actually do some of the shit I've done, I luff him
> 
> Also ya girl is finished with the podcast series (for the moment), so that means binge-writing in the next four days!!! Someone please pray that I get through most of the chapters in the next four days, I don't have time when I get back to university (unless the president of my uni cancels classes……looking at you, L. Cancel them)

Ryan was mildly terrified when he stepped onto the Northwestern campus for the first time, a cardboard box in his hands, and he still didn't quite know how he was going to get into his room if he couldn't open the door, and an older boy – Ryan would later find out he was a senior, thanks to more than one psych exam proctored by this guy – grabbed the cardboard boxes from his hands, another one took what his mother was trying to scoot out of the backseat of the trunk, and a redheaded girl that was Very Obviously dating the first boy grabbed the smaller stuff, and Ryan gulped and led them all the way up to the fourth floor, glancing over his shoulder when the girl breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned close to her boyfriend to say, "I'm just glad he's not living on Dirty Third" and the second boy snorted and said, "Don't you mean Dirty Turd" and Ryan nearly tripped over himself and onto his roommate out of pure intimidation, and the kid he nearly tripped onto shook his head, then Ryan's hand and said, "You must be Ryan, then – I'm Lionel Washington."

"How was _I_ supposed to know that you can't eat three week old pizza?" Ryan said as Lionel pressed a Gatorade bottle into his hand and told him to drink – they were out of food, Lionel's car wasn't working and Ryan didn't have a car, Judd was on a date with Vicki, and Mark and John were off doing things over the weekend, so when the dining halls shut down because of the coronavirus, Ryan shrugged and figured that, as long as the pizza had been refrigerated (which it had been), then it really couldn't be _that_ bad, but lo and behold, his entire body disagreed with him and Lionel was about to kill him for ruining their trash can, but Ryan didn't know if he would get death by food poisoning, lecture, or Lionel just finally snapping and killing him, but either way, Ryan's stomach lurched again and he groaned.

She was a beautiful girl, no one could really deny that, but she spent most of her time with Vicki, though the two were separated by a grade and two years – Ryan found himself glancing at her every time she passed by in the dining halls, usually with a bowl full of fruit and possibly cereal, whatever was considered edible by the typically picky population, but he could never work up the nerve to talk to her, let alone ask her out; Lionel must have picked up on his crush, or maybe Judd or Vicki or Mark or John did, but however it happened, Ryan found himself standing next to her at a baseball game, and she smiled shyly at him before sticking out her hand and introducing herself, and Ryan was so truly tongue-twisted at the fact that such a pretty girl would talk to him that Lionel rolled his eyes, grabbed Ryan's hand and shook Darrion's for him, and said, "Hey, Darrion, this is Ryan Daley, and he thinks it's so great to meet you that he forgot how to function."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fr, I'm actually praying that the president of my university cancels classes, I'm just so tired, I don't like English class anyways, and I can actually understand my poli sci prof when he tries to teach us that way. Online classes for everyone until next semester. That's my vote.
> 
> Anyways, if anyone has prompts or kudos or comments, I'd gladly accept any of them.


	16. Ash and Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A cold funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is up early!!! And my computer fucking hates me!!! I've only been on it for, like, half an hour, and it's already lost 13% battery, so maybe it's something to do with the sites I have pulled up, but I don't think Netflix is that bad. Anyways.
> 
> Also!!!!! Classes are cancelled!!!!! I'm free for another full week and then I have online classes for at least two weeks!!!! And I would bet!!!!! That we move to online only for the rest of the semester!!!!! So!!!!! I might be done with the dorm forever!!!!!!! (I mean, after I go back and pack up everything and move tf out of there in one day because I am Not staying another second in that dorm if I don't need to).

None of them had done this before – before, when someone they knew died, Bruce held the funeral, but Bruce wasn't with them now, and it really was just the three of them now; all of them stood around the fresh mound of dirt, where Judd lay underneath, cold and dark and alone, and they all looked at each other, wondering what to do next.

Vicki tugged on her lip and kicked at the tuft of grass next to Judd's grave, shivering when the wind whistled around her – she didn't have any gloves or coats, nothing to keep her warm because Judd was always the one who took care of her, and well, the earthquake kind of ruined everything she had, but the _earthquake_ didn't take Judd, it was a damn lapse of judgment, a step on the staircase that was too weak from all the damage the schoolhouse had, and he had plummeted, plummeted, plummeted, hit his head on the way down, and he was dead before any of them could get to him; Vicki shrugged and turned away, tugging her sleeves down to her fingertips before she said, "He must be so cold down there."

Ryan didn't know what to say because he was alone again, he had lost another person he viewed as a father, and really, none of them knew where Bruce was or even if Bruce was still alive, and with each toss of the shovel, as they covered Judd's body with dirt, Ryan felt like he was burying himself, and the only people he had left were Vicki and Lionel – they didn't even know where Mark or John were, it was just the three of them again; Lionel slung his arm over Ryan's shoulders and gently tugged Vicki closer and his voice caught on the rock on his throat as he said, "Vick, Ryan…Judd's having the best day of his life right now," and they all shivered, not because of Lionel's words, but because of the weather, how cold it was, and Vicki sniffled and said, "It's so cold – it's so cold without Judd around."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, prompts, kudos, and comments are appreciated!


	17. Tell the World (I'm Coming Home)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coming home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could have made this hella angsty, but Julie didn't want that, so it's at a minimal angst. AU, no AU, spoilers, no spoilers, there's just no way I can avoid these things in a three sentence fic series that goes as long as this one does

Carpathia resurrected from the dead, though Judd would hesitate to say that Carpathia himself resurrected – it was more that he was possessed by satan, and it's really that satan chose to operate in that body rather than anything else, it was a twisted mess and neither Judd nor Lionel liked to think too long about it – and every single Christian who had been a Christian and read their Bible during this time knew that they were entering into the Great Tribulation, the beginning of the worst kind of Holocaust, even including Hitler and Stalin _put together,_ so Judd and Lionel scuttled the hell out of Israel and the Middle East and started back towards home; the only problem was that getting home went from a trip that _might_ take ten days to a trip that took years.

Pneumonia and life-threatening situations, climbing up mountains and swimming across freezing rivers, walking across the United States of America, getting shot in the leg and Lionel running for a doctor, even though it could mean both of their lives, but Lionel said that if Judd didn't get that leg of his treated, then Judd would definitely be dead, and no siree, I did not just live through everything that has happened in the past five years to see you die before you and Vicki get back together, thank ye very much; Judd writhed and screamed through the shirt stuffed in his mouth as Dr. Patrick Rose knelt in front of him and disinfected the wound, digging the bullet out in the most painful surgery Judd was pretty sure anyone could really live through, and Dr. Rose twisted his lips, digging around for the bullet, and tears streamed down Judd's face, and even Lionel's assurances of "we're almost home, we're almost home" weren't enough until Dr. Rose asked if Judd had someone he was waiting for, and then the pain wasn't as bad, then Judd thought of Vicki and her being the one to hold his hand and her smile and laugh and compassion, and he stopped screaming through the pain, although he _did_ pass out twelve seconds later.

There were eighteen months left on Earth, and it might have seemed useless, but one day, as Judd and Lionel camped out in an abandoned mall for the night, Judd roamed around and found a jewelry store left untouched, and he hadn't seen Vicki in years, but he could take a guess as to what her ring size was – though he wasn't going to propose until they'd been around each other for a month or two, it had been two years – he took a few, asked Lionel which one Vicki would like the best or which one would fit Vicki the best, and they made it back home two weeks after that; Judd saw Vicki from one end of the camp, and he was running, running, running for his life, but this time, he wasn't running away from someone anymore, he was running to the person he loved more than anyone else in the world, and she was running to him, and he swept her into his arms, and both of them were crying, and Vicki cupped the back of Judd's head and gasped through her tears, "You're home!" and Judd squeezed his eyes shut and pulled her closer and said, "I'm home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess what! It's time to kill Judd. And maybe Mark. But mostly Judd, I've been writing Judd so much lately


	18. Streets Filled with Light, Love, and Laughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day in heaven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is going to be based on canon, and I am going to work _so hard_ on not revealing who died in canon (so many people die omg, like literally none of them are safe) because I want this to hurt because like, someone died, but also I don't want to spoil because when this character dies, I want you all to scream at me as I very much would deserve
> 
> That being said, a lot of characters who die are male, so that's what I'm working with. I could literally number all the male characters. This narrows down absolutely nothing. I'm already in pain. Let's do this

He felt peace for the first time in his life, though he would admit that saying "in his life" was more than a little ironic, considering where he was currently; at any rate, he stepped through the tunnel filled with a blindingly white light and into a room that shone with a brilliance of diamonds and gold and glitter, where a throne sat exalted above everything, and he saw the very person he had always wanted to see; when God stepped down from His throne, he didn't know what to say except "I don't deserve this, why do You still want me, even though I've rejected You, even though my very actions on Earth were the equivalent of spitting in Your face," but God simply set His hands on his shoulders and said, "I chose _you,_ and that's enough."

There was a crown, a robe, and he fingered the fabric that was softer than any on Earth, silkier than even the finest silk, and he licked his lips and shrugged before he said, "God, is it…I mean, I always grew up thinking that heaven was going to be one really boring church service for, like, the rest of eternity," and God laughed a booming laugh, clapped his shoulder, and led him to the doors as He said, "Well, not quite," and he had never thought that God's eyes could twinkle like that, could have a slight mischief in them, and he laughed because that's what God did and following God's lead seemed like the right thing to do, and as he stepped outside of the throne room, he saw streets paved with gold, and light, and love, and laughter – he saw friends and family, he saw Saint Peter and the other apostles, he saw C.S. Lewis and Ronald Reagan and Billy Graham, and he knew them all already, he was comfortable and familiar with them, and God simply squeezed his shoulder and said, "Is it anything like you imagined?" and all he could do was shake his head.

He was in heaven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, since I have…four weeks left before Lent ends, which means I have four weeks left to write book 2, can someone blease give me soft or fluffy prompts? If not, that is 1000% cool


	19. You Have Your Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, I Have Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd performs an appendectomy. Without anesthesia, without sterilization, without training. On Vicki. She'll kill him. Probably. If he doesn't accidentally kill her first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk, I just wasn't feeling writing today. That's why this one is up hella late. I still don't feel it, but I'm here, so…
> 
> Really, it started because I was like "I will not write the three sentence fic unless I get halfway through chapter 2 of the next book in the rewrite" but I know myself all too well, and that wasn't going to work, so since this is based on Lent, I have to get this done. That's not important. Someone give me headcanons. I'm dying out here (and Judd might soon)

"Get her over to that rock," Judd ordered, pushing his sleeves up as high as he could; Mark passed him a bottle of vodka and a knife, and Judd's fingers trembled as he took them because Vicki's life was literally in his hands, and it wasn't like it had been for the past three days – it wasn't him keeping her away from the Global Community, it wasn't him gripping her wrist to keep her from falling into the river, it wasn't him bracing himself and bending to protect her from aftershocks, it wasn't any of that, because he could do that, and he knew how to do that, and he had been doing that for a while now, it was in his nature to do that, but now, he was going to perform a fucking _appendectomy_ on Vicki, with just a knife and a bottle of vodka – Judd vaguely registered Lionel questioning Mark's life choices, to which Mark merely responded with, "You have your unhealthy coping mechanisms, I have mine," and settled Vicki on the rock Judd had pointed to – and there was no way to sew her up, unless Lionel and Mark had dug around the Stahley household for a needle and thread, and he was terrified because all he was relying on was old medical books that did not do nearly enough to teach him how to do this; sometimes, he really wished YouTube had a tutorial video for appendectomies, but even if they did, it wasn't like he could just pull it up because YouTube meant a smartphone and smartphones meant tracking.

He pushed up her shirt, so that he saw her skin, whiter than the rest of her, which really said a lot, and he steeled himself against the scars on her stomach, knowing that, in order to save her life, he would have to add another one, and it would likely be ugly and nasty and it could very well kill her, but this was her only chance; she was brave, too, so very brave, and Judd told Lionel to cradle her head and make sure her pulse was there while Mark would take her other side and "assist" Judd with the surgery, but before they could do that, Judd unscrewed the cap to the vodka bottle and doused his hands, Vicki's stomach, and the knife, and he really felt like he was going to throw up, but Vicki trusted him – she trusted him.

And maybe Vicki passed out minutes into the surgery, maybe Judd's hands shook terribly, maybe they were too late, but he found the problem appendix, pulled it out, and tossed it to the other side of the cave, and Mark dug in his jacket pocket and said that he had found some needle and thread, and Judd breathed out a sigh of relief because he knew how to stitch people up, he knew how to suture, and he cleaned the needle and started stitching Vicki back up, all while whispering under his breath, "Come on, Vick, don't you dare leave me on my most successful surgery, don't you dare leave me," and he would take her anger at him any day over never seeing her again – but, in the end, she woke up, complaining at how much her stomach hurt, and they monitored her for infection, and she was fine, she was alive, and he was – according to her – never going to do that to another living person as long as anyone was still on this earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just need two more prompts!! I'm so close!! Someone give me fluff options!!


	20. What It Will be Like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd, Lionel, Mark, and Vicki wonder what heaven will be like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruh I've said it once and I'll say it again: I love imagining what heaven will be like. It's just…amazing to think about. Like, obviously, none of us will know for sure until we die, but!!!!! It's gonna be so great!!!!!

Assurances of _"we're not going to die"_ did nothing to persuade everyone in the cave that they were, in fact, not going to die – Vicki and Judd sat close to each other, hands held out over the fire, and even though she was mad at him over the snake incident, she trusted him; Mark and Lionel sat farther apart, though close enough to soak up each other's body heat if need be, and they all knew that all the Global Community had to do was bring flashlights out here and they would find them, and that would be it – Judd and Vicki would clearly be executed, and probably by firing squad, and Mark had been involved with the militia, though he was good at playing his cards close to the chest, but even with that, he would be accused of conspiring with a "known" murderer and an enemy of the GC, and Lionel wasn't even in an ideal situation because he kind of had drugged a Morale Monitor to sneak Vicki out of the makeshift prison; in between rolls of thunder, they heard dogs barking, and Vicki finally rested her head on Judd's shoulder and said, "What do you think heaven will be like?"

The fire crackled and popped, and Mark tossed some dirt into it – shadows danced around the cave, and they all fell silent, chewing on their lips; Judd, though he wouldn't venture to say what he believed, thought heaven to be something of a castle on a thousand hills, with grass greener than emeralds, endless knowledge, new people to meet, and a constant discovery of who God was; Vicki thought it would have streets paved with gold, and all that there would be, aside from God and the angels and Jesus and other people, was light and love and laughter, a quieting down where all she would want to do – or all that she believed she would want to do – would be to bow down before God and offer her crown; Lionel thought it would be much like the dream he had so many years ago, a golden field underneath a great bright light, with music and dancing and singing; Mark thought it would be the first time in his life where he would meet peace, and it would be so great to stop running, to stop fighting, that he would fall to his knees, and God would be there to pick him up, and his family would be there to hug him and welcome him home, home, he would finally be home.

Judd picked up the stick used to stoke the flames and pursed his lips – Lionel was the first to speak up, a smile dancing in his eyes as he said, "Oh, I can only imagine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm filled with prompts, but comments and kudos are always appreciated! And if you want, share this with your friends! I have no shame


	21. Shopping, Shopping, Shop til You Dropping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd takes Vicki clothes shopping after the malls reopen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely being turned into either a chapter or a feature-length ficlet. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Judd never had an official "girlfriend" before – there were girls that he liked, girls that he did, in fact, sleep with, but never girls that he dated never girls that he would think about spending hours on end with…until Vicki came along and asked him to take her to the mall as soon as stores reopened, and suddenly, he was sitting in one of those chairs outside the changing rooms, and she would breeze out of the door, spin around, and ask what he thought, and before, he never would have really had an opinion, unless it showed off her ass or something, but he could see how much more her smile lit up when she wore greens and yellows as compared to blue, and he noticed how she twisted her lips in disappointment and tugged at a solid shirt, but she danced with the music whenever she came out wearing a patterned shirt, so he contributed: he said that he liked the shirts she clearly enjoyed far more, he went out and found some tie-dye shirts because he knew she would like them, he even found a few scrunchies and tossed them onto the counter to add to the staggering total, and he found that he didn't care at all.

Their next stop was Victoria's Secret, and she pushed him outside the store and told him to wait or go get himself an ICEE because this was a Necessity, she was very flat-chested and his mother's bras were not at all designed for flat-chested women, and that was more information than he ever needed, and he booked it out of Victoria's Secret, to the food court, and bought two ICEEs, and when he hesitantly made his way back to Victoria's Secret, she waved him inside to pay, and he was blushing as red as the cherry ICEE he'd gotten for her, as red as her hair, and she most definitely teased him about it, but he didn't think he would have it any other way.

Finally, armed with way too many bags and the reminder that, even if they _did_ spend several hundred dollars on clothes, Judd and Vicki headed back to the food court, with her happily slurping away at her ICEE, and he made some sort of stupid pun and she stuck her tongue out at him, and the settled their stuff at one of the tables – they wouldn't leave it alone, of course, not when there was so much crime still, but they pulled out their chairs and quibbled about which restaurant to eat from – he said Buffalo Wild Wings, she said Burger King, he said why would you do that to yourself, she said Chick-fil-a, he said that was the Lord's food and he was down, she changed her mind and they still didn't know, so they settled on Chile's, and Vicki snorted on her ICEE, schooled her face into a poker expression, and burst into laughter as she said, "Hi, welcome to Chile's."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Kudos? Sharing this with your friends via instagram, messages, or tumblr, or various other social media platforms? I am so down.


	22. BMW Stands For "Brakes, Motor, and…WTF"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd teaching Vicki to drive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone, everyone, it is day 7 since worldwide – or nationwide – quarantine began, and everyone in my household already has cabin fever. I would be willing to risk getting the coronavirus if I wouldn't be exposing everyone else in my family just for a few hours of peace. I will not clean my room unless I am doing it out of procrastination. I am at the point where I really don't want to be off social media. I want Chick-fil-A. I'm pretty sure CFA is closed because of the coronavirus + I already gave it up for Lent. I don't want to write anymore and take time off, but I am on a _schedule_ which means that I have to finish book 2 pretty soon, and then I can take _some_ time off, but not much because I have 5 weeks, my dudes. AND  
> AND  
> Classes resume next week, and I have to do shit. I don't want to do shit.

Judd gripped the passenger door as tightly as he could with his right hand and pressed his foot to the ground, clenching his teeth against the desire to scream "BRAKE!" at Vicki – he had always used to pride himself on not backseat driving his friends, but then again, he was usually high or drunk or he just didn't care, but now that he was in the passenger seat and teaching Vicki to drive, he muttered a prayer under his breath, fought the urge to wrench his eyes shut, and told her to try parking, but for the love of _Christ,_ Vicki, do it _slowly_ _;_ and even still, the car lurched, he swore, and she stopped in the middle of the parking lot to start yelling at him, but he banged his foot against the floor and screamed, "For shit's sake, Vick, either park the damn car _first,_ or use the, hm, I don't fucking know, the shitfucking _brake!"_

She pulled into the parking space, he opened the door to check and see how she had done – she was halfway over the line, and he pulled the door shut, rubbed his eyes, and said, "Okay, we're going to have to try that again, just decently this time, and Vicki, you know, you _can_ use the camera if you want," and she turned to him, her face as red as her hair, and said, "Are you telling me that I can't _drive?!"_ and he nodded very quickly and said that was the whole point of him teaching her, and Jesus, she really couldn't drive, could she, and then she reversed the car at 30 miles per hour, which was _way_ too fast, and Judd started screaming, and he just knew that Mark and John were watching from the other car, and he fully expected this video to make its YouTube rounds soon enough, especially with Lionel and Ryan in the backseat, but when Judd chanced a glance over his shoulder, he saw Lionel buckled in with three seatbelts and Ryan recording with one shaky hand while Lionel prayed under his breath, and Vicki glanced in the rearview mirror and said, "Oh come on, guys, I'm not _that_ bad."

At the end of the lesson, Judd collapsed out of the BMW, Lionel and Ryan crawling over him, and both of them kissed the ground, while Ryan dramatically shouted that they were alive, and then both boys ran for John and Mark's truck because they didn't trust the BMW anymore, not even if Judd was driving it, and Judd stood slowly, rubbed the back of his neck, and said, "Vick, I think maybe Bruce should teach you how to drive."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated! And share this fic series with friends, if you want!


	23. One Short Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Days in the Thompson study

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I deadass just wrote 2600 words in the span of an hour. I'm just about halfway, wordcount wise, through with ch. 2 of book 2. And I am exhausted, but I will continue to write because I love it!!! And I'm so bored and my sister is trekking across the state of Texas (by car) to see me (or my family), so whatever. Anyways, this one is up a little later because my family has no concept that an hour dedicated to writing means uninterrupted.

When they all woke up and saw the rain, there was a mixture of reactions – Ryan was the most disappointed, considering that Phoenix would be cooped up inside all day long and would be unable to run around and play, and Judd had vetoed Ryan's request to take Phoenix on a walk, stating that Phoenix was too big a dog to walk with one hand, and Phoenix would not be allowed to have one of Judd's ponchos; Lionel was miffed because he liked reading outside on the back patio, basking in the smell of the flowers that Judd had taken time to plant; Judd barely noticed, really, until the rest of them came up to him and started requesting eighteen different things, and Judd suddenly wanted all that sunshine back because then Lionel and Ryan would have their space and he would not have to break up their fights because that was what always happened when families were cooped up together – the two siblings fought and the parents (or Judd and Vicki, in this case) wondered just how bad the outside world was and if it really was bad enough to leave everyone cooped up inside to suffer the effects of cabin fever; Vicki, however, loved the rain, or maybe she barely took notice of it, but Judd was sitting in between Lionel and Ryan when she breezed past, forcing the two of them to watch HGTV because if they were going to keep fighting over which channel to watch, then Judd would commandeer the remote – at any rate, he knew the smell of peppermint tea when he caught a whiff, and he turned off the tv, to Ryan and Lionel's complaints, pocketed the remote, and followed Vicki into the study tucked away at the back of the house, where he found her in her sweatpants, one of his sweatshirts, fuzzy socks, and a mug of tea while she curled up next to the window seat and opened up a new book.

Lionel and Ryan shrugged and pulled out some of the board games from the bottom cabinets and situated themselves on the floor, though Judd did pull Monopoly away from them, citing how he was not going to let them kill each other in this household, and he shuffled his way over to Vicki; she looked up when she heard him coming and smiled at him over her mug, and he sat next to her at the window seat and whisper-asked what she was reading, and her eyes twinkled when she lifted the cover of the book she'd snagged from the shelves – and Judd knew she had climbed the shelves to reach it, he knew where he'd put that book, and he knew that he was the only one who could reach it, and he was over six feet tall – and a giggle bubbled out of her chest when his shoulders sagged upon seeing _In a Dark, Dark Wood_ spread across the cover of the book; he hated thrillers, suspense, mysteries, horror, and she loved all of them, but she hated nonfiction, which was where he found his greatest pleasure, so he stood, headed to the section designated for nonfiction, and pulled _The Winter Army_ from the shelf before padding back to the window seat – he never sat next to her permanently, that was her spot, but he settled on the floor with his back pressing against the window seat, and they basked in the silence offered by the rainy weather.

Aside from the occasional roll of thunder, the quieted arguments between Lionel and Ryan, the patter of rain against the windows, the only sounds were the dice rolling against the board game and the turn of pages as Judd and Vicki read, and Judd really would not trade a moment of it for all the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, reviews are appreciated!


	24. We Fell in Love at a Crazy Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan and Judd talk about the girls they fell in love with

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think it is physically possible to describe how fucking bored I am. This coronavirus was great for the first week, and then there was the mandated quarantine and I am about to go to a fast food restaurant just so I can get out of the house and have some human interaction.
> 
> *crying* I used to enjoy staying at home but not anymore

Vicki led Darrion to the kitchen table, sat her down in one of the chairs, and told her to stay put while she went and pulled out the first aid kit – or rather, pulled it away from Judd while he was taking care of Ryan; Judd chuckled and passed it to her, after pulling out some rubbing alcohol, some gauze, and a bandage, and she floated back to the kitchen table, scooted closer to Darrion, and whispered about how she and Ryan should have been more careful in escaping the GC, but Darrion just waved her hand and explained that Ryan was the one driving, and he certainly had no good teacher, and Judd pressed his lips together to suppress a smile as he pressed the rubbing alcohol to the gash on the side of Ryan's head.

Ryan winced and tried to push Judd's hand away, but Judd held firm and cleared his throat, glancing back at Vicki and the way her hair cascaded over her right shoulder, the gentleness with which she treated Darrion, and he was only shaken from his thoughts when Ryan asked if Judd was in love with her, and he started, scraped the alcohol a little too hard against Ryan's cut, and Ryan yelped, but Judd cleared his throat and said, yeah, he was in love with Vicki, and he had been in love with her from the very day he met her – a smile spread across his face as he explained that it wasn't even the day after the disappearances where he fell in love with her, it was a few months before then, and maybe he shouldn't have, maybe it had set him up for disappointment, but he saw a fire in her from the first moment he saw her, and that flame intrigued him, and now they were best friends, and Judd could tell Vicki things that he could tell no one else, not even Lionel and Ryan and Mark; Ryan quirked his lips up, held the gauze in place, and said, "But not that you're in love with her, right?"

Judd raised his eyebrows, unrolled the bandage, and nodded over to Darrion, and Ryan blushed and said that Darrion was _really_ badass and really smart, and she really wasn't so bad once he had gotten to know her, he had even learned why she was a vegetarian up until the Great Tribulation began, and they would do their Bible study together, and her laugh just bubbled out of her chest and recently – and Ryan didn't really know what this meant, and Judd snorted when Ryan said as much – she had been leaning into his side whenever they were reading or watching tv together, even though there was plenty of space around them, and Judd finished wrapping Ryan's bandage and said, "Listen, Ry, I'll make a deal with you: you ask Darrion out on a date or to be your girlfriend, whatever, and I'll admit to Vicki that I love her," and he really should not have been surprised that Ryan agreed – nor, he later discovered, that Darrion had to be the one to ask Ryan if he was asking her out, and Vicki clapped her hands, rocked back in her chair, pressing her back to Judd's chest, and she looked at him with what he could only imagine was love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone, anyone, please, share this with friends. Leave a comment. Leave some kudos. Whatever floats your boat


	25. Call the Midwife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd and Vicki have binge watched an entire show in the span of three months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one here is most definitely for Julie. Sorry for not being able to expand this beyond a three sentence fic, but I think you'll really enjoy this one (and look – there's no angst!)

It all started about a year ago, really, when Melinda told Vicki about a show on Netflix called _Call the Midwife,_ and at first, Judd thought nothing in the world could ever convince him to watch that show, not when it was about feelings and heavy topics, but Melinda also told him that it was medically accurate _and_ it was a true story, and nothing grabbed Judd's attention faster than medically accurate nonfiction shows, so he started watching with Vicki, in their cramped apartment that their parents hated and that Bruce hated – mostly because they were unmarried, despite talking about marriage Very Seriously, but neither of them could really afford the time for a wedding, so they had decided to wait a minute or two until things settled down and they were more stable in their lives to get married – anyways, they started watching _Call the Midwife,_ and at first, Judd wasn't sure, nor was Vicki, but they kept watching, and Vicki's baby fever started skyrocketing (and he would never admit it, but his baby fever started going through the roof), and at first, they started volunteering at the church nursery, but within weeks, Vicki's baby fever climbed steadily higher, and it got to the point where volunteering only fueled the fire instead of appeased her, and it was one night, as he sat down on their small couch with his pizza and soda for their scheduled daily programming of their show when she grabbed his plate from his hands and said, in complete seriousness, "Judd, I want a baby."

And she meant a _real_ baby, one that would be half her and half him, and after they watched the show for the night, he kissed her deeply, and it escalated from there, and as she pulled his shirt over his head, he started reciting genetic facts, about how the baby would definitely be 50-50 each, but the baby would not necessarily exhibit traits completely evenly, some of the traits would be unexhibited, and she stopped, tossed his shirt aside, and said, "Are you serious right now," but before he could respond, she kissed him again, and her tongue tangled with his, and that was that, for the evening, until a few weeks later, when Vicki was running late to all of her classes because she couldn't keep anything down, and Judd wondered _Did we end up actually making a baby?_ but he shook the thought from his head, but it couldn't be, it couldn't be, they had only tried once, and had left it at that, for the time being, and then he got back from his clinical rotations, and instead of Vicki sitting on the couch in their spot – they weren't watching _Call the Midwife_ anymore, both to stamp down Vicki's baby fever and because they had finished all the episodes on Netflix – she wasn't anywhere, and he bit his top lip and started for their back room, when she stepped out of the bathroom, tears in her eyes, and he asked what was wrong, and she held up a little plastic stick and said, "Judd, we're going to have a baby."

Now it was eight months from that point, or from the night of conception, give or take, and Vicki had debated for _months_ over whether or not to go to the hospital for the delivery, but now, it really didn't matter, and Judd ran to the phone, called a woman named Wanda, she was a midwife or something, they had talked to her before, and he tried really hard not to panic, but hey, his baby was coming, and Vicki was not at all prepared, and she was panicking, but Wanda was calm, and she said there was nothing to worry about, just parenting jitters, and she said she was on her way, and it was after a few hours, in which they were both scared out of their damn minds, and during which Vicki screamed loud enough to wake the entire state of Illinois, and then there was a shrill cry, and Judd sat up straighter and Wanda smiled warmly and wrapped their baby in a blanket and said, "Congratulations, you two, you have a little girl."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos or comments are much appreciated, as always


	26. Saturday Night's Alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd takes the three people living in his house to a roller skating rink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twenty days left, y'all. Less than three weeks left of Lent, which means that I'm closer to being done with this than not being done with it. And after Lent, I can watch Netflix during the week, but I probably won't. And then!!! I can waste so much time on social media!!! God, I can't wait. This Lent seems like it's been going on longer than others.

Ever since school resumed, they all balanced their time between school, homework, Bruce, Bible study, and _The Underground,_ but Judd had never before realized the toll it took on everyone – Ryan was probably doing the best out of all of them, merely because he had a dog to take care of, and Phoenix and Ryan would go on run-walks, and that was the only thing, Judd thought, that kept Ryan from going crazy; Lionel sulked in the silence, and he had become more quiet, and Bruce pulled Judd aside and told him that Lionel had suffered from mild depression before the disappearances happened, and this constant routine was not doing anything to help him; Vicki was doing just about as much as Judd was, but she was also the mom and the sister in this household, she cleaned up after the boys and helped make dinner and refereed fights between Ryan and Lionel and she took care of the rest of them, and Judd tried to help, really, he did, but Vicki wanted to do this, but he could see her burnout, he didn't pretend not to notice that she was sleeping in later and later on Saturday mornings; so with that in mind, Judd canceled all writing for _The Underground_ and told the other three to load up in his car, and he would not tell where they were going.

Once they reached the roller skating rink, Lionel and Ryan started cheering and raced out of the car and inside, bouncing at the counter for Judd to pay – they put on their skates and hit the rink immediately, but Vicki was more hesitant, and it could not be because she didn't look the part, because she did: she had the striped shirt with loud colors, the high waisted shorts, and the belt that just screamed 1980s, and nothing fit the 80s aesthetic quite like roller skating, but she worried her bottom lip and admitted that she had never learned how to skate, so Judd grinned, held out his arm for her, and said, "My lady, it is time for me to teach you."

She held onto his arm for a little while, before she got the hang of the skates, and Lionel and Ryan were on the other side of the rink, staging races, and Vicki laughed at Judd and gently pushed him towards them, telling him to go and race them, and she would be the ref, and Judd skated by Lionel and Ryan, both of whom grabbed his shirt to slow him down, and he never wanted to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, at this point, I‘m just Tired™️


	27. Hold On Tight (Just a Little Longer)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Tell me you want me to stay, 'cause heaven can wait"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one I know for a _fact_ was requested by RobinsonsWereHere!
> 
> Also, today starts the day of online classes, and I have already been up for two hours, showered, worked out, and I feel good. I'm awake. I can go for several more hours, and I'll have to. Anyways.

It started out as a cold, that was all it was, all it had to be, a cold, a cold, just a cold, and then it spread into his arms and his legs, and he coughed harder and insisted to Lionel that all they had was just a cold, and maybe it wasn't a cold, maybe it was the flu, and Lionel coughed, his lungs rattling, and he smirked and said, "Remember when the coronavirus was a thing because it could be that," but Judd shook his head, he shook his head because he didn't have the energy to laugh, all he had the energy to do was curl into a ball and cough, cough, cough until his chest rattled, cough until his lungs wheezed, cough, cough, cough until blood came up, cough until fear settled into his bones, and he rolled onto his back, swallowed the blood thickly sliding down his throat, and he rasped out, "Lionel, I'm 90% sure we have pneumonia."

They tried to take care of each other, but antibiotics were hard for them to come by, and neither of them had the strength to go looking for a doctor in the midst of this blizzard, nor did they have the energy to start the journey in the summer, so they did what they could, they curled close to each other, they grabbed a handful of snow and brought it back into the cave to bring down each other's fevers, but that didn't work, it didn't work, they were dying, dying, dying, and Judd had waited years to stare peace directly in the eyes, he had longed to go home, to see heaven and his family and God and his fallen friends, but as he shivered in the little space of the cave, the damp and the gloomy, all he could see was Vicki's face in his mind's eye, all he could think about was her waiting for him to come home, and all he wanted, anymore, was to see her again, to hold her in his arms and kiss her and tell her that he loved her, and this time he would say it to her face instead of over the phone, and his fingers twisted in his jacket, and he licked his lips, and he shivered, praying, hoping, wondering, if she would ask him to stay.

If she asked him to stay, if she wanted him to stay on this earth, then by God, nothing would keep him from staying because even God and heaven could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anddddd now it's time for your regularly scheduled class time! Thank you all for enjoying


	28. Midnight Snacking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd and Vicki cook together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, it's really difficult not to set every plausible thing during or immediately post-COVID-19. This is taking some serious self-control. I'm going to try my hardest to make this really soft and precious with no hint of COVID-19 but honestly, it's fun incorporating the virus into fic and ONLY fic. Jesus. Anyways, 18 days left of Lent. 18 days until I can see all the memes again. 18 days until I can promote the shit out of my fics.
> 
> Anyways, someone please save me, I have classes coming up soon and I don't want to do them. I'm exhausted. I need a nap. I've been going since 7 am, but no workout today, so less wakey-wakey. I can't walk. Anyways.

"You're up late," she said with a yawn, pulling out one of the barstools and sitting on top of it, resting her chin in her hands, and Judd glanced over his shoulder before he continued pulling out the ingredients for the brownies.

"I could say the same to you," he said, and he carefully pulled out the pan for the brownies, so as not to wake Lionel or Ryan – they were fast asleep, practically dead to the world, but if there was any sign that he was making food, they would be up faster than a jackrabbit in spring, so he tried to keep quiet, "but I could," Judd rubbed the back of his neck, "could use your help, if you want."

Vicki smiled brightly, hopped off the barstool, and grabbed the eggs from the refrigerator; and maybe as she whisked the egg yolks, he reached over her shoulder for the brownie mix and she elbowed him in the ribs, and he put his hands on her waist and nuzzled her hair, and maybe, maybe, he thought this must be what the first few months of marriage feel like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will take one (1) day off of angsty ideas if someone can provide me a fluffy three sentence fic idea to take its place


	29. The Psalm of David

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicki, Darrion, and Bruce + Psalm 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I chose this solely because this is the most beautiful and painful and amazing Psalm I can possibly imagine, and I naturally had to do that. At least one of the books had three major scenes dedicated to this Psalm alone.
> 
> Like the laughter one, this one will have a little "prelude," per se, that will not contribute to the actual sentence count. Psalm 23 has 6 verses, which means two verses for each – or you could look at it as three sections to Psalm 23 and each section gets a character. Anyways

**_The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He renews my strength. He guides me along paths of righteousness, bringing honor to his name._ (Darrion)**

Darrion clutched Ryan's arm with all her strength, and he kept his hand over her mouth, and for a minute, she thought about ripping his hand off of her mouth and telling him to shove it so far up his ass it would come out of his nose but then the van rattled, and she whimpered, clutching him even tighter; the Global Community was going to kill them, she knew, but Ryan didn't believe that, not anymore, not now or ever, and a part of her loved that about him, loved that he could stare death in the eyes and say, "nope, not today," and continue working on opening the trunk – finally, he kicked out the tail light, took a deep breath, and told her they were going to have to jump out of a moving vehicle going at least sixty miles an hour, and all Darrion could think was at least she would be dying next to Ryan, and he led the way out of the back, and they waited a breath, waited to see if the car would turn around, and then he stood up, still holding her hand, and he ran, ran, ran, and when she got tired and when she couldn't run anymore, he picked her up and hobbled onwards, onwards, onwards, and as the sun rose, they collapsed in a field filled with wildflowers, with a brook rushing past, and she put her head on his chest and said, "Ryan, are we dead?"

**_Yea, even though I walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me._ (Bruce)**

Bruce knew the chances of all the kids making it through the Tribulation alive – he knew that those numbers were abysmal, that most of them would be killed by either the Global Community or Nicolae Carpathia himself (if any of his kids were going to die by Nicolae Carpathia's hands, it would be Judd, Vicki, and/or Mark – none of the rest were so important that Carpathia himself would kill them, but Vicki and Judd and Mark stood up, fought back with tooth and nail, defied him at every opportunity, and they were the only three people in the world Carpathia was afraid of), but regardless of who killed who, they all fled from the Global Community on their tail – Bruce would rather be damned than let Judd or Vicki die, let them be taken, he knew the torture they would face, so he kissed Vicki's head and hugged Judd and sent them away before he turned and faced the onslaught of GC stormtroopers, tears in his eyes – not because he was scared of giving up his family, not because he didn't think they had enough time, but because he would never get to see Judd and Vicki on this side of heaven again (he still heard Judd and Vicki screaming for him as Mark and Tom pulled them away); and as Bruce sat in a cold jail cell, he found that he wasn't scared.

**_You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever._ (Vicki)**

She had two children and a loving husband, and their world almost couldn't get better than it was now, except for the fact that the entire world was on its last legs, but they came, the Global Community came, and Vicki hadn't been able to get out in time, hadn't been able to join Judd and her children, and she knew Judd had tried to get back to her, and it had failed, but she couldn't blame him – the GC took her, they hung her on a cross and laughed as she struggled to breathe, but it wasn't a gasp for air, it was a reflex, and she could see a brilliant golden light dancing in front of her, and then she took a last breath, the light got brighter, and she saw Jeannie on the opposite side, her red hair and brilliant smile the same as Vicki remembered, and Vicki was running, running, hugging her sister, and she saw God, walked in heaven, and for the first time in twenty years, she was at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate online classes. That's it, carry on.


	30. Famous Last Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The deaths of three Christians

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen. Listen. This _isn't_ my fault. I merely posed the question of who Julie thought would die in the course of LB, and these were the first people she told me about and I wish – I _wish_ – I could say if you were right on any of these counts, but why would I spoil the fun?
> 
> So, yeah, warning: major character death. That's all this one is. Major character death after major character death after major character death. I'll give you the names and a sentence over each character's death and move on from there.

**Judd**

His wife was pregnant, and that was all he could think about – all he could think about was that little baby growing in Vicki's stomach, the baby she would be willing to protect with her life, and all he could think about was how likely they were to die, how unlikely it was for them to crawl out of this and see their baby in their arms for the first time, even though they had escaped the GC, even though they were alive now – he didn't think it would last, really, he knew it wouldn't, so one night, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, whispered that he loved the both of them, and he ran away: not because he was leaving, but because he was saving her, and he traveled across the country, waited to get caught until he was thousands of miles away from Vicki, and then he stepped into the light and turned himself in, and the Global Community beat him nearly to death, where he couldn't see out of his eyes, where he couldn't breathe because of broken ribs, where he could barely move, and they pulled him up, whipped him until his back was raw, and they tied him up and drove nails through his wrists and through his Achilles heel, and they hung him on a cross, and Judd swallowed past the blood and the sweat, and he stared down at Commander Fulcire, a smile dancing on his face, and Judd lifted his head defiantly and said, "Here I am: I can do no other, and may God help me."

**Bruce**

The lion paced the tunnel on the opposite side of the arena, his ribs poking out – whenever Bruce looked at him, the beast snarled and roared, and he would take a step back and laugh at the irony: he had been captured in humble little Nebraska and transferred to Washington DC, and even then, they said it wasn't enough, they said that they wanted more than just to nail this man to a cross, they wanted a _show,_ and they couldn't get a show with a man struggling to breathe for a few hours, they couldn't drown him, so they ordered him to be transferred to New Babylon and the new Colosseum there, and Bruce had always thought lions were intense animals, and here, as he faced his death, he squared his shoulders – the lion was released, and it bounded towards him, snarling, jowls ready to kill, but Bruce stood his ground and whispered, under his breath, "God is still good, and I will be okay."

**Ryan**

Darrion pushed her hands through her hair and bit back her tears – Ryan writhed on the ground in front of her, his arm trapped beneath one hell of a boulder (he had pushed her out of the way, he had pushed her out of the way, he loved her and he had saved her), and he tried hard not to scream in pain, and he breathed through clenched teeth for a moment before he jerked his head to his pocket and told her to get out the survival knife from his front pocket and start cutting his arm at the elbow and she tried to resist, tried to tell him that it wasn't going to work, he would either bleed to death or get an infection or die from shock, and he arched his back off the ground and screamed at her to just do it, so she did, she did, she cut into Ryan's arm and sawed off the forearm through her tears, but the shock got to him, he spasmed underneath her and she tried to apologize, she did, but it didn't work, so she tossed the knife aside and started crying, and both of them knew, in that moment, that Ryan had no chance left – but he smiled and lifted his one free hand to cup her cheek and said, "I might be dying, but the view is outstanding."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :):):) this isn't the last angsty fic, either :)


	31. A Seven Year Ache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three more martyrs, three more deaths, and three more people they all lose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Julie also contributed to this one when I asked who she thought I was gonna kill (she was dead set on the last three) but then she was like "hmmmm I also think you're gonna kill these people" and regardless of if I do in canon or not, I'm killing them here :)

**Tom Fogarty**

They took him into questioning, a routine thing, where they told him, "Hey, you need to take Carpathia's mark – you've got one week" and he thought about it, thought about whether to put it on his hand or his forehead, but he didn't want it on either place, he didn't want the mark at all, and something kept nagging at him, those kids he met all those years ago, the kids he still thought about and loved as dearly as he loved his wife, they were the ones holding him back from this because what they believed made _sense,_ it was the only logical conclusion and it wasn't just something they toted along, it was truly their lifestyle, and Vicki came banging on his door, dirt on her face, a friend in tow, and she begged for his help, so he slipped her outside through his basement, gave her the keys to his cruiser and explained what she needed to do: she was to ditch the cruiser once she reached the state line (she'd know it when she saw it), turn on the sirens only for short bursts on the highway, and she needed to put on a GC uniform that would be way too big but hopefully no one would look too closely; she got away, her friend got away, but he was caught, and he and his wife were dragged away, and they tried to force him to take the mark, but he spit in their face because they were wrong, they were trying to kill Vicki and Lionel and Judd and Ryan for no discernable reason, they had ripped Judd and Vicki apart, they had beaten Judd to a pulp because he stood up to them, and Tom had decided that he couldn't serve a man who would do that, so he refused, and he said, "This is where I'll die," and they dragged him out of his cell, positioned him on the wall, bound, and he laughed as the officers all fired their guns.

**Phoenix**

Darrion had left Ryan behind when the bad people came around, but Phoenix couldn't – Ryan was his best friend, and Ryan needed him now more than ever; maybe he couldn't lie on top of Ryan like he used to, but Phoenix could put his head on Ryan's stomach and wait for Ryan's hand to twitch and start petting his head, and even if Ryan stopped breathing, Phoenix wouldn't leave him behind because Ryan never would have left him behind – it got cold, it got dark, it started to snow, and Phoenix stayed until he stopped breathing too.

**Conrad**

They had tried to get him to give up Vicki and Mark and Judd, but in the end, they understood that Conrad would keep his mouth glued shut – or maybe they finally learned that he couldn't talk or see after the beating they gave him, so they finally resolved to ask their question of if he would take the mark, and Conrad blinked slowly and lifted his head and said, "I will never serve that god, kill me now," so they did, they led him outside, asked if he was a Christian and all he could do was nod, and they drove nails through his wrists and he hung his head and waited, waited, waited, and then– and then he was in the presence of God.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'd think that was the last angsty one, but alas, it is not. Good news: there are only two more straight angst ones, but there are two bittersweet ones following that, but fluff is interspersed


	32. Shipwrecked Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mother outlives her child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, yesterday: "oh, I'm going to be so responsible!!! I'm going to do all my work on Saturday and Sunday so that I don't have to do everything the day I normally would and I can relax during the week! Or I could write more! How awesome!!!"  
> Me at this exact precise moment in time: "I spent 30 minutes watching my brother's dog to see if he would do something stupid, I still haven't showered, I just ate lunch, I had a weird ass dream this morning and I'm still trying to interpret it, and fuck, I still have to write this fic for today and THEN finish the chapter of the rewrite by tomorrow. It's time for Netflix"

Vicki had Michael when she was just seventeen years old in the backseat of Tom Fogarty's cruiser as he sped away from his old life, and Josey was with her to deliver baby Michael, and Judd had tried to help more than he had, but Tom needed his help more than he needed Josey's and Josey had been a nurse before she had her own kids, but regardless of what it was, Vicki was seventeen when she had her first baby and the only good thing that came out of being chased was a wiggling baby boy in her arms and Judd damn near scrambled over his seat to hold his son, and they all thought that maybe there was a slice of happiness in the world, after all.

Michael, however, had been born with epilepsy, and Vicki had taken care of him as best she could before they resolved to contact a doctor about their baby boy with epilepsy – his seizures weren't severe, not based on what Judd had told her, but they were concerning because they were seizures and he was only a few months old when he first started having them, and Vicki tried breastfeeding, she tried formula, she tried schedules, and nothing kept Michael from seizing, nothing stopped it, so Judd wrapped Michael in a blanket, took Vicki with him, and they found a doctor who would help them, who would prescribe Michael some medication because Michael was just a little boy who needed help and they were willing to risk their lives to help him, and the medicine worked for a little while, it did, but then their home was destroyed in a forest fire, and they had to flee too quickly, they forgot to bring Michael's medicine, and he was in the car when he seized, seized, seized, and he didn't stop seizing, Judd did what he knew, but it was no use, Michael seized for seven minutes before his body just collapsed in complete silence and Vicki didn't need Judd to look at her with tears in his eyes to know what had just happened.

She screamed with the heartbreak of a mother losing her only child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally gonna just make this a Vicki fic but when I started it, I thought about Darrion, and I just wanna ask: should I get rid of the prompt idk what the fuck I'm gonna do with and add Darrion for this prompt, or should I just figure out the other prompt which is kinda fluffy?


	33. First Priority

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He bottle-feeds his wife's killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay the baby fever today is SO FREAKING SKY-HIGH it's outrageous. I want babies. I want to hold babies or see them. My mom hung up pictures of baby me (and I'm obviously the cutest out of my siblings and me, friends have confirmed), so I'll look at that in hopes that it'll appease my baby fever, but it's just going to make it worse. That's just how it be.
> 
> I started the day by reading the Jicki au (still screaming about it) and then I watched an ep of CTM, and nothing is fixing it, not even today's 3 sentence fic. I might have to write another fic tonight about Vicki having a child. It's how it goes

Vicki was too small for a pregnancy, Marshall told him, before any of this began – Marshall understood, he really did, and he said that it was no bad thing that Judd and Vicki wanted a baby and that they were expecting, they were married after all, but Vicki was malnourished, barely even skin and bones, so small that even one baby might hurt her, but that didn't mean anything – they couldn't access condoms, they couldn't get Vicki on birth control, and quite honestly, they were not going to schedule their sex life around when she was ovulating, and so it was inevitable that she did get pregnant after all, but Marshall was right, he was so right, Vicki almost immediately had complications, they almost immediately assumed that she had miscarried (she didn't), that she was in serious danger, and Marshall was a nurse, but he wasn't a neonatal nurse, he didn't know what to do in this situation, so he called a midwife; but in this world, the midwife was arrested and executed, so Judd sent Mark to find a doctor who would help, and he moved Vicki to a secure location, begging God that this doctor would be benevolent, and Dr. Patrick Rose said that he was a GP, but he knew what to do in this situation, and he said Vicki was going to have complications, regardless of if it was one baby or four, and he was right, baby came two months early, and Vicki tried her hardest.

Screaming, crying, hands holding hands, asking Dr. Rose if the baby was okay, and Dr. Rose would shake his head, but Vicki seized before he could give her a full answer, and Judd had no idea who he needed to be more concerned about right now, his wife or his child, and really, thank God for Mark and Dr. Rose, because they stepped in when Judd hesitated, and they got his daughter out in time, before things got too terrible, and Judd heard his baby girl shriek, and Dr. Rose swaddled her, cut the umbilical cord, and immediately passed her onto Judd, but Vicki was hemorrhaging, she was bleeding and she wouldn't stop seizing, and Judd had read dozens of medical books, but he didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to do, he just stood and watched, his baby crying in his arms, as Vicki seized and seized and bled before her body gave out on her, and Judd was holding his baby girl when he watched his wife die in front of him.

Dr. Rose rocked back on his heels and wiped his mouth with his wrist, and Mark stood to lead Judd to a quiet corner, pressing a bottle and some formula into his hands, and Judd sat there, staring down at the little person who killed his wife, and he couldn't find it in himself to have even a sliver of hatred for Morgan Victoria Thompson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is the last day of angst, I _swear_


	34. Let's Fall to Pieces (Only Together)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mother loses her baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear on my life that this is the last angsty three sentence fic in the next twelve days. I mean, I'm excluding the rewrite from that list but whatever, that's not the point, the point is that I'm almost done with this 3 sentence fic campaign and I'm one story out from being done with the angst!!!

Darrion was fourteen weeks along with her first child when she woke up from a nice, pleasant dream about her child, Ryan, and her playing in the park, and Ryan was teaching their child, whose face was a bit of a blur, how to ride a bike, clapping when they stayed upright despite some wobbling at the beginning, and their child finally fell into the bushes but sprang up and said, "Daddy, I did it!" and Ryan swooped in to pick up their child and pepper kisses on their face and say, "yes, you did," and Darrion hadn't been able to wait until that child was a reality.

But when she was fourteen weeks along, she woke up with the feeling of wetness between her legs, and when she glanced down, she saw a dark spot on the sheets, and after a heart-stopping moment of fear, she reached over Nacho Libre and shook Ryan awake, and when he pushed himself up, confusion still in his eyes, she swallowed thickly and said, "Ryan, I'm bleeding."

There wasn't much that could get Ryan out of bed that fast, and neither of them really cared about getting dressed, they just threw the dogs on their leashes, and he carried her to the car and drove to the hospital with white knuckles on the steering wheel, and she had one hand pressed to her stomach, and it was times like this where she wished she could call Vicki, but it was too early in the morning and Vicki had young children, so Darrion just waited, she waited until they were at the hospital, she waited until the doctors ran some tests, and she waited until the doctor came in with the worst news she could ever hear, and she collapsed into Ryan's arms in tears when the doctor said, _I'm sorry, Mrs. Daley, but you had a miscarriage._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruh, it is Time for the quarantine to be lifted. I'm going slightly less crazy with classes but I'm stuck in the same house as my brother, and sibling rivalry, y'know?


	35. You, Me, and Puppy Makes Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd does not want a dog. They have young children. Judd and Vicki get a dog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how the summary in and of itself is a three sentence fic, omg I love that, and I love Judd and Vicki in general.
> 
> The plan today was to get way ahead in writing for the rewrite since I'm so far ahead with classes, but then I was like "hey what if I watch Worst Cooks in America and make it all the way through a season in a day" because those seasons are short, so long story short, I'm going to continue binge doing my homework and then I'm dedicating time to either binge watching or writing, we'll see

"No, no, no, no, _no,_ we are _not_ getting a dog," Judd said, the first time Seth and Lucas ganged up against their father with their pouty lips and their big puppy dog eyes that were almost sure to get him to cave in, but Judd held firm with this, kept mentioning Tater Tot as an example, and Vicki kept trying to remind him that Ryan did take care of Tater Tot quite well except for the one time he was in the hospital with appendicitis – "And that was the worst three days of my life, Vick, do you realize how much effort dogs are" – but even with Vicki on their sons' team, Judd won the battle because they were expecting baby number three and Judd knew damn well that he was neither going to train the dog himself or invite Ryan, with all his ADHD tendencies, over to the house while there was a little baby who needed the majority of attention.

"How many times do I have to say that we're not getting a dog before you all believe me that we're not getting a dog?" Judd said, some five years later, this time with Sadie on one leg and Michael on the other while Seth and Lucas kept jumping up and begging, and Jesus, this would be a hell of a lot easier if Vicki didn't have a squirming little puppy in her arms, because how in the world could he say no to a dog if there was literally a puppy in her arms?

"Dad, I thought you didn't want a dog," Seth joked, tossing a baseball up in the air and catching it in one hand, and Sadie came up behind him, leaning over the back of the couch and scratching Rocky's ears, and Judd only rolled his eyes because it wasn't _his_ fault that Rocky was cute and that Rocky would go on runs with him and that Rocky was a great guard dog when it was necessary, and sure, maybe the kids didn't spend as much time with Rocky as Judd did, but Rocky was still their dog, Rocky wasn't his, even if he did feed him and walk him and talk to him in his baby voice when no one else was around to hear him, and he would usually steal the dog from one of the kids' rooms and bring Rocky into the master bedroom and Vicki would wake up with a quirked eyebrow and he would tell her that it was nothing, he just thought he heard some whining, and Vicki would just roll her eyes, pull her covers up to her chin, and say, "I'm about to be out of a job here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Judd is exactly the guy who would say, "We're not getting a dog" and then become best friends with said dog.


	36. Birthday Bash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best birthday that Lionel has ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Julie requested this one!!
> 
> Ngl, this was probably the hardest one for me to write because it's the only one that does not reflect my mood. It's dark and cloudy back home, I started my period today, my mom is…ugh, and just, in general, today is not a good day. So writing fluff is hard. But I'm going to do it.

Lionel never expected them to celebrate his birthday because he had never really mentioned it to them – he'd told Bruce, of course, but only Judd had known when Vicki's birthday came around, and that surprised no one, so Lionel was expecting a quiet day of bugging Ryan, doing his homework, Judd deciding on which dinner he was going to cook for the first time that night (and it would be good, of course it would be good), and Vicki would suggest a movie, and that would be it, it would be a nice but normal day, but of course that didn't happen, because he had told Bruce that his birthday was April 3, and on April 3, Judd, Vicki, and Ryan burst into his room with smiles on their faces and paper in their hands.

Lionel had been initially hesitant about the papers in their hands, but Vicki told Lionel to write down all that he wanted to do on his birthday on the yellow piece of paper, Judd handed him a piece of brown paper and a silver sharpie and told him to write down the meal he wanted for lunch and dinner (and dessert, of course), and Ryan handed him the last slip of paper and told him to write down the gifts he wanted, and Lionel couldn't really think of much, just some clothes and books, and Vicki helped Lionel out around the house while Judd and Ryan ran errands, and he teased her about her extremely obvious crush on Judd, and she merely hummed and blushed as red as her hair, and when Judd and Ryan got back, Vicki traded places with Judd and Lionel helped Judd cook his mama's jerk chicken, and at the end of the day, Lionel was set at the head of the table, gifts all wrapped nicely, with his favorite dish in front of him, and he could have cried, and he did, he stood up from his chair and hugged all of them, and Ryan even admitted that he did love Lionel, even if it was sometimes, and after dinner and after dessert, he opened his presents, and they really did know him better than he knew himself, they got him more than he had asked for, and if Lionel knew any of them, he knew that Judd had a hand in exactly one of these extra gifts while Ryan had picked out the rest.

Vicki reached over and squeezed his hand and said, "Happy birthday, Lionel."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to watch either Worst Cooks (I enjoy it) or a comfort movie. I need a comfort movie.


	37. Track Meet Postponed Due to Weather (weather that does not currently exist)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> High school sports au: all are members of the high school track team and their state competition was postponed after they arrived so they decided they were gonna hang out in this mall and get to know each other for a few hours before their parents picked them up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Julie, this one's for you! Literally. And if I ever write a proper high school au over LB, just know that this will be a scene in it because three sentences is not enough (only nine days left of writing three sentence fics yasssss). Anyways

It really was unfair, Vicki thought, wandering the mall next to Darrion, arm looped in arm, eyeing the shops and food court, and she would never quite deny it because her father had managed to get time off his two jobs to travel up just to watch her in the state track meet, even if she would only have one race, and now it was canceled because of some weather, and really, it wasn't just unfair, it was fucking stupid because she'd checked the weather app enough to know that the weather wasn't coming until late that evening – before she could get wrapped up in her pity party, Darrion squealed and jerked her towards Nordstrom, and they went through everything, tried on clothes, and Darrion said she'd gladly buy Vicki some clothes, but just as Vicki was putting them up, uncomfortable at the thought of drying up Darrion's allowance, Judd poked his head in the store, saw her, and crossed the store to kiss her forehead, but he frowned when he saw her finger the shirt she'd just hung up – he poked and prodded, because he knew she loved that shirt, and finally, she admitted it, and he took it off the rack, strided to the cash register, and paid for it before she could protest.

After the store, Judd took the two girls down to the food court, where Mark, John, Ryan, and Lionel had commandeered one of the tables – Darrion slid into the chair next to Ryan and asked where Conrad had gone, to which John and Mark, in unison, lifted their heads, chewed their burger, and pointed to Panda Express.

They explored the mall, took photoshoots with their phone cameras, wandered back to the food court, and bought more stuff before Ryan's mom showed up to pick up him and Lionel – then it was Mark and John, with Mark's dad picking both of them up, and then Darrion was gone, and then Conrad, and then it was just Vicki and Judd, and Judd spun her under his arm, pulled her close, and asked if she wanted to wait for her dad to break the bad news to him or if she wanted him to drive her home, and Vicki bit her lip, knowing that he didn't need her to say aloud that she had already texted her dad the bad news, so she just leaned into his side and said, "Can you drive me home?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did all of my classes before the morning was finished. How about that. People be proud of me


	38. No More Green-Eyed Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forgotten jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone please yell at me to write. I have seven entire chapters to finish up with the rewrite and I _just_ started the third chapter. I'm serious. I only have six sentences for it. Yell at me to write, porfa

Mark used to be deeply in love with Vicki.

He had met her, not at the end of the world, not immediately after the disappearances, but in the cafeteria at Prospect High, mere weeks after the worst day of anyone's life, and she had been full of energy and spunk and life, and she always had a good idea, she was always smarter than she gave herself credit for, and she was magnificent in every way, but Mark hadn't really known that yet – he had asked her to prom, because he knew Vicki wanted to go to prom and because Judd was studying too much to be able to go, and they had a good time, they'd danced to both upbeat songs and slow songs, and at the end of the night, Mark had taken Vicki home and kissed her on the cheek, and maybe that was the moment Mark knew that he felt something more for Vicki than just a sense of friendship, and as he knew her longer, and as times came, sometimes she would rest her head on his shoulder, and he would imagine that they were a couple, that they were married, that he could brush away her hair and gently kiss her and she wouldn't hate him for it, but that wasn't at all how it worked, she was Judd's soulmate, and he knew that, and he wouldn't break it up, even if he loathed Judd sometimes with every part of his being, even if he sometimes even hoped Judd would die.

At the end of the world, in the new world, Mark was no longer in love with Vicki; he found Judd and Vicki walking arm in arm down the street, her belly a little fuller than he was used to it being, and there was no doubt that she was pregnant, but instead of that raging hatred that would normally have resulted knowing that would never be _his kid_ and he would never have _his kid,_ he smiled and he waved because he was really and truly, for the first time since he met them, happy for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And again, yell at me to write. Consistently. Julie, send me reminders because I'm not doing it.
> 
> (Also, tomorrow is going to result in an early 3 sentence fic and then au voir because I legit have four papers to write and a business test to take haha someone kill me)


	39. To Love and to Honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An untraditional wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, last night: "oh, I'm gonna be so freaking productive, I'm going to get my essays and papers done, I'm going to do that test"  
> Me, after I woke up: "so the most I'm doing in one day is planning an essay and doing the test, I don't have that much energy"

Vicki leaned into Judd's chest, trying to fit better underneath the desk that was too small for two people, too small to hide the both of them, so he had taken the position with his back pressed to the wood, ready to take fire if it came down to it, ready to protect her when she needed it – it was quiet now, now that they had diverted attention away from them, and Conrad and Lionel had both promised they would be back in a few hours, so here they were, with three hours until dusk, and Judd had taken to slowly running his finger up Vicki's arm, not to do anything, just because he was so amazed that she had been unharmed in the earthquake, and he was glad, he was so glad that she hadn't been hurt, and he finally leaned his forehead against her shoulder and whispered, "I love you, Vick."

She knew it, of course, knew that a few months ago, he had been stammering out a question that would end with him asking her out, and she would have said yes, and she knew that she loved him, too, so she twisted in his lap, cupped his face gently, and kissed him – they wanted to get married, and in a normal world, they wouldn't be allowed, not for another year or two, but she was here now and he was here now and there was no telling if they were going to live to see tomorrow, and Vicki wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with him, so she licked her lips and said, "I know you're the one supposed to be asking, but let's get married."

Judd knew her well enough to know she meant right now, and they did: he whispered his vows to her, whispered that he would love and honor and cherish her, until death do them part, whispered that he fell in love with her from the first moment he saw her and he would love her until his last, and she, in turn, whispered the same vows, whispered that she fell in love with him when he presented her with a stuffed animal rendition of Nala, whispered that she would protect him above all else, and she whispered that she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone, and they knew that their marriage "didn't take," but Judd quirked one lip up, just enough to show off his one dimple, and he whispered, "Am I allowed to kiss the bride, Mrs. Thompson?" and she kissed him slowly and sweetly, praying that this was not the first and last day of the rest of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also so sorry this one was up late, I was planning on getting it up earlier, but I had responsibilities


	40. Tangled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicki and Judd in the single dad au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised myself I'd finish the rough draft of my history essay (I did), but I just needed to decompress. I hate working. There's so much effort involved.
> 
> Also, there's only six more left after this one!! I can't wait to be finished with these ngl

"She has a fever," Vicki said, holding a thermometer up in the air before setting it on Judd's countertop – this wasn't the first time either of them had dealt with Kate having a fever, but she was older now, and that meant higher fevers; except Judd was in medical school, and he knew when to worry, except that didn't matter, not when he was a father, so he just gestured for the thermometer that read 100.8 – not good, but not terrible, so he sighed, pushed a hand through his hair, and said, "Okay, tell you what: you get Kate, get Tangled going, and I'll start making some chicken soup for her."

Vicki smiled, because Judd really loved his daughter, and she went and got Kate from upstairs and brought her over to the living room, where she put on her favorite movie and slowly combed her fingers through Kate's hair – there were knots, and Vicki could easily go back upstairs and search for Kate's brush, but she didn't want to leave her right now, so Vicki took care to untangle those knots while Kate sat attentively and watched Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.

Judd came by a little while later and knelt next to his daughter, carefully feeding her the chicken soup, and once she was done, she climbed into Judd's arms and fell asleep and Vicki leaned forward, running her hand through Kate's hair, and said, "I can stay if you need me," and Judd looked up, smiled, and said, "Vick, I always need you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, reviews and kudos are appreciated!


	41. Study Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What I'm doing right now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was requested by RobinsonsWereHere, and the original plan was for there to be an angsty one and then a fluffy one, but I nixed the angsty one in favor of yesterday's! Also, I absolutely should be doing legitimate classwork, but I'm really not feeling it today, so I'll edit my rough draft of my essay and call it good.

He had sworn, at the beginning of the year, that he was going to be valedictorian, and thankfully, he was in a much better position now than he was last year – sure, last year he was in the top 10%, which was great, and a fair number of people between him and valedictorian disappeared with the Rapture, and maybe it was slightly morbid, but he was glad for this opportunity that honestly would lead nowhere for him; at any rate, it was long past midnight, and he had been studying since getting home from school yesterday: his eyes snapped shut every six seconds, the words in his textbook blurred, his handwriting was more illegible than normal, and he could not fight sleep for much longer.

Judd heard his door open, and he half-expected Bruce to step in, grab his arm, and maneuver him over to the bed, but when he forced his eyes to open, he saw Phoenix pressing his nose into Judd's hand, and he saw Ryan, Lionel, and Vicki standing at the door, and Ryan shrugged, holding up his phone, and he said, "Look, Judd, we know you well enough to know that you're about to pass out, but you at least need a break from studying."

It started with Queen, and Judd would twirl Vicki around and dip her while Lionel groaned and showed all the rest of them how to dance because Lionel truly did not believe in a white person's ability to dance (and he would be right), and Ryan patted his stomach and let Phoenix jump on top of him, and the two of them swayed around a little bit, and either it was their master plan or it really wasn't, but even though he felt rejuvenated, he still felt exhausted, and Judd collapsed on his bed, and he saw Vicki pull a blanket over him, he saw Ryan turn off his desk lamp and Lionel close his textbooks, and he heard all of them whisper goodnight to him as Vicki pulled the door shut behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot wait until Lent is over, y'all one or two people who read this, I cannot wait


	42. Blame the Food Network

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midnight snack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *crying* I'M SO BORED AND I'M SO SICK OF SCHOOL AND I HAVE FIVE MORE PAPERS TO WRITE BEFORE THE END OF THE SEMESTER, NOT TO MENTION THE FOUR FINALS I'LL BE TAKING, AND THEN I HAVE TO PLAN MY FALL SEMESTER AND I MIGHT HAVE TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER SUMMER SCHOOL BUT THEN I CAN'T GET A JOB AND IN THIS ECONOMY I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO EITHER AND I CAN'T DECIDE HOW TO REGISTER FOR CLASSES AND I'M JUST SCREAMING RIGHT NOW AND B E S I D E S I DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO MY ENGLISH TEXTBOOK WHICH MEANS THAT I CAN'T DO MY FREAKING ENGLISH ESSAY

Judd had a rule about tv at night, and that rule was that, unless they were watching the news, there was no tv at night, but really, Lionel didn't pay much attention to that rule – the only problem came when he wanted to watch something on his phone or his laptop, and then he had to scramble out of his bed, grab his headphones, and triple check just in case he didn't plug them in right and the sound came blaring through the screen, since Judd was in the room next door and he was a light sleeper; on occasion, Lionel had been able to make it with the volume on the lowest bar since Vicki was sleeping next to Judd, or they were doing their thing, honestly, Lionel didn't care just as long as he could watch tv at night behind Judd's back.

Tonight, he had settled on watching the Food Network, and his stomach rumbled at the sight of all the food chefs like Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell and Michael Symon were making, way back when, and his mouth watered so badly that he paused the video, threw off his covers, and crept downstairs.

Now, only Judd would make an actual meal at this time of night, and Lionel half expected to walk into the kitchen, and the light would turn on and Judd would be standing there with the most disapproving look on his face, and dang, Judd really was turning into a dad – when Lionel crept into the kitchen, however, no one was there, so he opened the fridge, grabbed the leftover wild rice, dumped it into a bowl, and heated it up in the microwave before he rummaged through the pantry; he absolutely wasn't paying attention, so when the kitchen light came on and Vicki said, "Lionel, what are you doing up at three in the morning?" he screamed and threw the food in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four more goddamn days. This was not the year to give up social media for Lent, everybody


	43. Love Me Tender, True, and Dear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicki has something to tell Judd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring the single dad au!!! Another request by Julie that I'm all too happy to oblige.
> 
> Also, minus the impending stress of classes and assignments, I'm feeling a lot better! It's amazing what sunlight does + my history prof is going to do zoom meetings once a week, which vastly boosts my mental health (and I have stories of yesterday's meeting), my youth minister from last year is holding zoom meetings for college age kids he used to teach, I taught my dog nephew how to jump into the pool from the side, and I get to go on an outing somehow today, whether by walking my dog or going to Chickfila!

Kate had won the spelling bee for her grade at her school – granted, it wasn't much of an accomplishment, considering that she was the only one in her class who liked to read, let alone the only kid in her class who read enough to learn new words, and both Vicki and Judd were willing to sit down with her and teach her new words and go through the dictionary, and Vicki would put Kate to bed, knowing that sooner or later, she would pull out her flashlight and start reading under the covers, and she would shake her head and say that Kate was going to be much smarter than her own mother, and Judd always pulled Vicki into his arms and kissed her; except, today, Kate hadn't been able to move past her school bee, since she was going against sixth graders, and they had tried to console her, but Vicki had bowed out early, and now that Judd had put Kate to bed with the promise of learning new words to kick everyone's butt next year, he went searching for Vicki, and she stepped out of their bedroom just as he was about to go inside.

She didn't say anything, she didn't need to, because he had seen her tracking her period on her phone and frowning when it didn't show up, shrugging it off as a missed period because those happen sometimes, even without stress, but after that, she had practically thrown herself in front of their toilet every morning to throw up, and Judd would – as best he could – hold her hair back and rub circles on her shoulder while she threw up, and usually, the only food she could eat was toast, if that, and she could barely force that down, and he had considered taking her to the hospital, but he knew, deep down, what this was, he had seen his ex go through it nine months before Kate showed up, and seeing Vicki's tears and her smile…he knew.

"Judd, we're going to have another baby," she whispered, and he pulled her into his arms and he cried, cried, cried, because this was his life, and he loved it more than anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We only have three days left of Lent!


	44. Hey, Dad, What's Up?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce with the gang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so close to being done  
> So  
> Freaking  
> Close

It was a Friday night, and Friday nights could mean anything from pizza to movie theaters to roller skating to going to the Chicago malls and bee-bopping around for a few hours, or it could mean staying inside and changing into their pajamas (or, in Vicki's case, sneaking into Judd's room to steal his sweatshirt and a pair of his sweats) and reading or retreating to the study to play some board games or actually studying for whichever tests were coming their way, or it could even mean all of them going with Ryan to take Phoenix on a walk around the neighborhood and to the nearest park, where they would all run around and toss the ball and Judd would end up starting a game of football against Lionel, and it was amazing, most of the time, but today, Bruce decided to come by, since Ryan had come down with the flu.

Ryan wasn't particularly sick, not with a fever higher than 101 at its worst, and even though he shivered and twitched, he licked his lips and asked Bruce to go downstairs and watch a movie, and Bruce smiled, pulled Ryan into his arms, and carried him downstairs, where Judd saw him coming and sent Vicki to pick out Ryan's favorite movie, and Judd got the chicken soup and Sprite, and Lionel started scooping the ice cream, and Bruce set Ryan on the loveseat couch, where he could perch on the armrest and make sure he was okay – of course, Ryan fell asleep shortly into the movie, and Bruce only waited until after the movie ended to take Ryan back to his bed, where he tucked him in.

Bruce wandered back downstairs, hands tucked in his pockets, and he saw Judd and Vicki gathered around the kitchen table, discussing the bills and how the money was drying up much faster than expected, which was concerning, it was, and Bruce stepped inside and squeezed both their shoulders and told them that he would be staying the night to make sure Ryan was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND at the end of this, I get to do fun things like write a seven page term paper for English, write two essays for religion, another essay for English, a major journalism assignment, and study for finals!!!!
> 
> Someone remind me why I volunteered to go to college


	45. House Hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judd, Vicki, and the triplets house hunting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ONE MORE DAY LEFT OF LENT LET'S GOOOOOO

Now that Vicki was pregnant with their fourth child – and she had said that if the OBGYN said she was having twins or triplets again, she was going to make him sleep on the couch for the rest of her pregnancy, but thankfully, she was just having the one child – Judd and Vicki had evaluated their life situation and realized that they could not stay in their apartment anymore, and besides, the triplets were getting too big already – Sam and Silas had to share a room with Summer, and though they were still little enough that it didn't matter too much, Vicki and Judd both wanted Summer to at least have her own room, at least until baby number 4 was older, and so Judd and Vicki spent a few weeks discussing finances at their kitchen table; Judd was a resident pediatrician now, board certified, and sure, he wasn't making as much as he would be after he finished residency, but he was making a decent sum of money that could pay for an actual house, and Vicki worked part-time, and that allowed them to start the search.

The triplets wanted to come with them, and there were many, many houses they looked at, and none of them seemed right – houses that were big enough on the inside barely had a square of grass to call a yard, and barely anything out front, and some of those yardless houses were too far away from a park to make it worth it, and the ones that were close to a park were too expensive, and then the houses that had a yard were too small inside or too expensive in general, and they were just about to give up and find the cheap option when Lionel sent them both a text about his sister, who was a real estate agent now, and he said that Clarice had a perfect spot and she had haggled the price down, so Judd and Vicki thought why not and dragged the triplets along for the ride.

There was enough room in the backyard for a pool, albeit a small one, a white picket fence, a beautiful yard out front, four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, no stairs, and it was, all in all, the perfect size; Judd talked with the owner and haggled the price down a little bit more, and he signed the contract, but Vicki knew better, and she pulled Clarice aside and asked how she had managed to find this all-too-perfect house for the all-too-perfect price, and Clarice tried to brush it off, but Vicki didn't believe her until the owner mentioned he had planned to move into this house with his own family until his wife had gotten a job out of the country, and he had to move as quickly as possible, and really, Vicki couldn't find it in herself to care, not when there was enough room for all her kids and then some.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, ya girl finished her stupid journalism assignment and I'm giving myself the rest of today off. I'll write my religion essay tomorrow, take off Easter because it is the Lord's Day, and resume work on Monday because I need to be responsible in these last couple of weeks.


	46. Do You Want to Meet Your Godchild?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lionel meeting Judd and Vicki's kid for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all (aka Julie and Dawn, unless there are occasional lurkers)!! We're finally done! Can you believe it?

Lionel had gotten a call at three in the freaking morning, and at first, he wasn't going to pick up, but then he saw that it was Judd and he remembered that Vicki had already reached term and he picked up the phone with the urgency of one who was about to become a godfather, and Judd was like, "oh, my God, I'm about to be a father in less than twenty-four hours," and Lionel said that he'd meet Judd at the hospital, more or less, but that just meant that he was sitting and waiting with Bruce; he tried to read or play games on his phone, but all he could think about was Vicki in that room, in excruciating pain, and Bruce smiled softly and said that Vicki was tougher than any of them gave her credit for, but still, she was in that room, and in a few hours, Judd would walk out with a little baby in his arms and introduce them.

On September 14, at 9:32 in the evening, Judd walked out in scrubs, his face tired, but his eyes so full of life, and he glanced at Bruce but his eyes zeroed in on Lionel, and he said that Vicki had given birth to Michael Joshua Thompson, named after both Judd and Lionel, and would Lionel like to meet his godson, so of course, Lionel stood and followed Judd to the neonatal ward, and Judd carefully picked up little Michael and handed him to Lionel.

Lionel had no idea how to hold a baby, and he could see that Vicki sat up a little straighter, seeing her baby boy in someone else's arms, and Lionel thought about passing him back, but he stared in little Michael's eyes and watched Michael yawn and turn his head, and his heart melted, and the only thing he could think to say – not "oh, he's so beautiful" or "he's an amazing little baby" – was "oh, I've gotta get me one of these."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow, I'm back on tumblr, so tell me what you think! Send it to your friends, favorite blogs, anything like that! It was fun doing this and writing every day, but gotta admit, it was exhausting. And now I have to write literally four different papers, so that's where we're at right now. I'll get to writing for fun in May.

**Author's Note:**

> Like it, love it, hate it? Leave a comment below or go to my tumblr, @ my-glasses-are-dirty, and tell me what you think!
> 
> (Also leave a prompt below, if you feel so inclined!)


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